


Everlasting Party

by ZenTheRainbowUnicorn (FlightlessPhoenix)



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-14 00:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 47,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7992007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightlessPhoenix/pseuds/ZenTheRainbowUnicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're stuck in a time loop that starts when you join the RFA and forces you to live through the same eleven days over and over. How will you get out of this time loop? And does Unknown have something to do with it?<br/>Note: this is a multimedia fic! It includes videos of original chatrooms and is best viewed online. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will continue to add tags as the fic progresses. I'll also try to mention what kinds of spoilers you'll come across in each chapter, as it will vary. Chapter 1 has some small spoilers for Zen's route.
> 
> I originally uploaded this on my Tumblr [@zentherainbowunicorn](http://zentherainbowunicorn.tumblr.com), and any new fics I post will usually be posted there first.  
> [Masterpost of my fanfics on Tumblr found here.](http://zentherainbowunicorn.tumblr.com/post/148399920206/zentherainbowunicorn-mysme-fanfic-masterpost)  
> Oh! And also, I make all of the chatroom edits myself. They get better the farther into the fic you go, might make one chapter that's just told via chats ^^  
> Update 9/19/17: Why yes, I'm still around, and thanks to V's route I'm thinking I'll pick up where I left off. However, it's been pointed out to me that some of the chatrooms don't show up the way I want them too, so I'm making some changes. Namely, all of the chatrooms have been made into videos that are embedded into the fic. This means that **you definitely can't download the fic as a .pdf unless I provide one,** or you're going to miss out on all of the chatrooms (some chapters are **just** chatrooms, so you'll want to read them). That said, I'll put together a download-friendly version when I can, and in the meantime if you really must read it offline I've [put together a .zip file of the still images of the chatrooms that you can download separately](https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg5bjmcsnorszlq/Everlasting%20Party%20Chatroom%20Stills.zip?dl=0). I also did a bit of experimenting and if your screen is too narrow (aka you're on your phone) I recommend you turn it to landscape mode to see the chatroom videos to get the full width. Stay tuned!
> 
> If, for whatever reason, the videos aren't showing, [I've made a YouTube playlist you can watch them at.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlT8Cws144JfoXmCf8fU9q3JObQPHr08S)
> 
>  
> 
>   
> ~~Update 10/18: Actually, there is indeed a chapter told entirely through chats. It took... so... long...to edit... OTL~~  
>   
>   
>  ~~I wanted to mention that the chatrooms often do not animate if you download the fic via anything but HTML. I'd highly recommend you download them separately if you want to view it offline.[Here's a link to a Dropbox folder containing all the stills from the chatrooms.](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/peyb1islzj6dqp7/AAC4cA42mX_VtWtkyy2hYZjYa?dl=0) And perhaps when I finish the whole fic I'll make a more download-friendly version. Happy reading!~~  
>   
>   
>  ~~Update 11/04: I've updated all the chatroom edits + made video versions of the ones that didn't previously have them. You can find all of the video versions collected in[this Dropbox folder,](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rdscw188nfut7et/AAB_EroBlXOjBO_in813gu7za?dl=0) and they're linked below each chatroom as well.~~  
>   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update Oct 15 - Redid the chatroom bits; now they're animated and more up to par with the later chatrooms.

“Goodnight, my princess,” Zen says softly, wrapping an arm around your waist to pull you closer to him. You snuggle deeper under the blankets and finish typing your last message for the night to the RFA chatroom – _Thank you for letting me be a part of this organization. I hope to help you with many more parties in the future._

You dim your phone screen and set it aside, letting out a deep breath. It was a long day, but worth it. The party went off without a hitch, Zen’s press conference went well, and you got to meet all of the RFA members in person. And now you were back at Zen’s apartment, snuggled safely in his arms. Nothing could be more perfect than this feeling.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

A familiar sound jolts you partially awake. It’s your ringtone, but your old one – the one you had on your phone two weeks or so ago before you joined the RFA. Well, maybe your phone downloaded a software update overnight or something and it reverted to your old tone. You’re reluctant to open your eyes and reach your hand blindly towards where you think Zen’s bedside table should be. Your hand brushes against something that is _not_ your phone and it falls to the floor with a dull thump. You make a little sound of frustration and open your eyes at last.

This is not Zen’s room.

This isn’t even Rika’s apartment.

This is… _your_ apartment. Your old one. The one you lived in before you moved to Rika’s apartment to help the RFA. You still technically owned the apartment until the end of the month, but… your stuff should not all be here. You’d moved most of your belongings to Rika’s apartment.

_Bzzt bzzt._

You’re so caught up in your confusion over waking up in your old room that you’d nearly forgotten your phone was buzzing. You haphazardly click a button and it quiets, then pick up the book you’d knocked to the floor. You slowly raise yourself into a sitting position. It’s 10am, according to the clock across the room. A clock you were positive should be in Rika’s apartment now. What…?

Wait. Where’s Zen? You’d fallen asleep in his arms and now… and now what? He knows where Rika’s apartment is now, but he certainly shouldn’t know where your old apartment is. So he probably didn’t take you here for some reason.

You’re getting more confused by the minute. Standing up, you make a small circuit around your apartment. All of your belongings are just as they were before you moved them to Rika’s apartment. You still have that bunch of extremely ripe bananas on your counter that you’re certain you got rid of while you were packing up your things. That weird poster you’d held onto since high school and ultimately threw in the trash before you’d moved out. Some dishes in the sink that look like they had pasta on them the night before. But you haven’t eaten in this apartment for almost two weeks.

You should… call Zen. Or maybe Seven. _Someone_ has to be able to explain this. You return to your room and pick up your phone.

The date. What’s with the date? It’s twelve days ago. Maybe downloading the RFA app did something weird to your phone when it downloaded software updates. You open your phone app and click ‘Recent’ to find Zen’s phone number.

It’s… deleted, you suppose. It looks like all the call records are erased until two weeks ago. You open your address book, but Zen doesn’t even have an entry.

It’s an insane thought, but just for a moment you wonder if your time with the RFA was all a dream. And now that you’ve thought that, it’s hard to quell the rest of your thoughts. Your heartbeat picks up as you sift through more applications, more ‘recent’ messages. Nothing from the past twelve days. What if the date on your phone really is correct?

Oh… the RFA app! It’s still on your phone. Feeling marginally relieved, you open it and sit down on your bed.

Suddenly, your screen flashes and beeps, and green text flashes up the screen. This feels… familiar.

This conversation is too familiar. You press him for details and he sends you a photo ‘of himself’.

There’s a loud bang from somewhere outside your bedroom. It sounds like part of your wall caved in. _What?_ You look down at your phone and try to close the RFA application.

Nothing happens. You click frantically at the buttons, but it seems to be frozen. Shit. Did Unknown hack your phone? You didn’t bother getting a landline in your apartment because you always used your cell phone. Shit, shit.

You turn the lock on your bedroom door and look at your window. Well, this is the best bet. There’s no guarantee that whatever made that sound is out to get you, but after nearly getting kidnapped in Rika’s apartment, you’re not taking any chances. Better to get outside and call the police.

You’ve got one leg over the sill when the door handle jiggles. Then it’s shaken violently against the door frame. Your heart in your throat, you carefully bring your other leg over the sill. Rushing will only make things worse. You tell yourself that, over and over, scraping your sweaty hands along the brick to try to find purchase. If you can just get to the next window, the fire escape is right there beside it.

Your foot slips and you nearly scream. Okay. Okay. Why the hell was the apartment on the seventh floor? Not as bad as the fourteenth, but still a fatal fall. Don’t think like that. Stand on the raised brick line by the window. Let go of your window frame. Shuffle. Just a little bit more.

There’s a tremendous crash, but you don’t look. You have one hand inside the crevice of the window that leads to your living room. Shuffle to the right a bit more. Don’t lose your balance. Put your foot on the sill. Just a little bit farther.

The sound of footsteps comes from the window to your bedroom, but you focus on the fire escape. You’re almost there. One more step. Don’t lose your balance.

The living room window opens. A push. A feeling like going over the top of a roller coaster. White hair and mint eyes. Windows flying past your face. Fingers scraping against stone.

Red, and then black, and then nothing at all.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

 


	2. Chapter 2

_Bzzt bzzt._

You gasp and fall out of your bed. _Shit._ Your body won’t stop shaking and you’re covered in sweat. God. They’re worse than nightmares because they actually happen. A wracking sob forces its way through your lips and you cover your mouth with your hands. No. You will get through this. You curl up in the fetal position and count backwards from one thousand until your breathing steadies and the shaking stops.

You’re not sure if it’s better or worse that you live on your own.

Your shoulder throbs from hitting the floor as you pick yourself up off the hardwood. But there are no bruises, no scars, no outward signs of the trauma your body had just been through mere seconds earlier. Just terrible memories of a day you couldn’t get to end.

_Bzzt bzzt._

You have to reply, or Unknown breaks into your house and forces you to come with him. You have to stay in your house until he gives you the address, or the small explosive he’s rigged to your door will go off when you leave. You can’t fight him, or everything goes dark and you wake up to the buzzing of your phone all over again.

You have no new information from the last loop. Unknown mentioned a ‘saviour’ once again, but he says nothing if you bring it up when he comes to kidnap you. You thought perhaps you were on to something when he told you he was taking you to ‘paradise’, but now you’ve hit a dead end.

You open the RFA application and a familiar calm washes over you at the sight of the green text flashing upwards on the screen. This is routine. Your fingers know how to type all the words that will get him to come to your house to talk, just for a moment.

But this time… you’re getting nowhere in talking to him. Perhaps… perhaps it’s really time to go to the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short, I apologize :O The next chapter is longer, though, so look forward to it!


	3. Chapter 3

The loneliness feels like a physical pain in your chest.

You sit on the floor of Rika’s apartment, leaning against the wall with the lights off. You can just make out your surroundings by the diffused city lights that filter through your fourteenth floor window. Your phone hangs loosely in your hands, the screen displaying the conversation you had with Zen just before he logged out.

It's one thing for Unknown to keep forgetting the previous things you’ve asked him, to keep waking up in your old apartment day after day. But now, you’ve finally managed to make contact with the RFA members once again.

And not a single one of them remembers.

Not even Zen.

You feel like you’re trying to inhale the thin air at the top of a mountain. There’s not enough oxygen in the room, and your chest feels like someone tied a noose around it and is slowly seeing how tight they can pull it.

And the worst part? You feel stupid, like somehow you should have known and prepared. Like maybe this whole endless day is just one huge punishment for not being good enough, not being worthy of getting to know these wonderful people.

You haven’t even been able to cry any tears. Your breath comes in ragged gasps that shake and hurt your diaphragm, but you have no more effort to expend on cheering yourself up. You wonder if Seven saw how dead you look on his CCTV feed of the hallway leading to the apartment. Not like he’d care. He doesn’t know you.

Nobody does.

* * *

 

Something is off.

You feel it in every cell in your body as soon as you wake up. Something’s missing.

You open your eyes and stare at the ceiling of Rika’s apartment. Did you wake up before your phone today?

Your phone. What time is it? Why isn’t it buzzing? Where did you…

It dawns on you that you’re in Rika’s apartment. You’re in… _Rika’s apartment?_ Wait. This isn’t right. Your phone sits on the bed beside you, nearly drained of battery. You seize it and press a button to light up the screen. _The date, what is the date…?_

You look at the screen and a bubble of laughter bursts from your lips. You did it. You actually did it. The next day has finally come to pass. Your laughter continues and you feel tears come to your eyes. You’re not sure if you’re happy, or sad, or maybe slightly unhinged from all the yesterdays that came before this one.

You laugh and cry until your stomach hurts and your eyes sting from the tears. Mostly, there’s a sense of relief. _Finally._ A hint as to how to escape this madness.

* * *

 

Is it sad that you’re getting used to the kick to the chest you feel every time you open the RFA messenger and Zen is logged on? Or maybe you enjoy the pain, in a way, because it means you still get to talk to him. Your family used to always tell you that you cared too much about things, that you let other people’s emotions and problems affect you too deeply. And for several days now you’ve been worried that you’re slowly becoming more and more numb to the world, forgetting about the things that used to matter to you. But whenever you talk to Zen, it’s clear your feelings haven’t disappeared.

It’s easier to hide your feelings behind the safety of a text-based chatroom. In the app, you can retype and rethink your words until they sound more cheerful, like someone who’s excited to have joined the RFA and plans to try their best. Sure, you feel a little twinge every time Jaehee says she doesn’t trust you yet, or when Jumin tells you you’re only valuable to the RFA if the party is a success. But you feel sure you can win them over again with time.

Your phone buzzes and you set down your cup of instant ramen. You’d finally changed the ringtone and it makes you weirdly happy every time you hear the new melody, like a reminder of yesterday’s success. It’s still plugged into the wall charging at 29%, but you pull out the cord anyway and check the caller ID.

It’s Zen. Your brain glitches for a moment. He’s calling you? Why… would he do that? He just met you a few hours ago. Did this happen last time? You can’t remember. What if he noticed something was up when he talked to you last in the chatroom? You tried to be cheerful, lightly flirting back with him, but maybe you messed up. Maybe he’s suspicious.

Your phone quiets and the screen flashes ‘1 missed call’. _Oh._ This is worse. Maybe you should call him back. Your fingers hesitate over the glass, fraught with indecision. _Oh, hell._ You click to redial his number.

“Hello?”

Your heart stops. “U-um,” you blurt out. “It’s me.”

“Huh? It’s… you?” He sounds confused. Wait. Wasn’t he the one who phoned?

“Didn’t you call me?” Now you’re starting to doubt yourself.

“Did I…? One second.” There’s a pause and you almost consider hanging up, but then his voice comes back on the line. “Oh! You’re our new member! Haha, I got your number from Seven. I actually meant to call my friend, but it looks like I called you instead. I hope you don’t mind.”

“N-no, it’s fine.” God, you’re a horrible conversationalist. How long has it been since you last talked to someone? Someone who _wasn’t_ trying to kidnap you? “Were you practicing your lines?”

“Yeah!” Zen says, and you can hear the smile in his voice. “The director doesn’t have a new part for me yet, so I’ve just been going over some old projects to keep my skills up. What were you up to? Did you eat yet?”

You think of the cup of instant ramen still sitting on the counter _._ “Yes,” you lie. “…Have you?”

“Not yet,” he says, and sighs. “I wanted to get to the end of this scene before I stopped for a break.”

“Make sure you eat something,” you say, but it comes out in a monotone. You clear your throat and try to inject some more feeling in your voice. “And I’m not talking about just drinking the beer in your fridge.”

You can hear him laughing through the speaker. “Haha, am I that transparent, babe? You’re right, I think I only have beer in my fridge. I’ll pick up some groceries on my way home.”

Oh, shit. Of course you weren’t supposed to know that. _Stupid._ You’ll have to be more careful of what you say next time.

“…You know,” Zen says, and you can almost imagine him in front of you, twirling a strand of hair around his finger, “it’s really exciting hosting the party again. I’m glad I met you.”

You feel like you’ve been hit by a truck. “Y-yeah,” you choke out. “Thanks for… letting me join.” _Again._

“Don’t worry too much about Jaehee and Mr. Trust Fund Kid acting all cold; they’ll warm up to you. You seem like a really nice person! If anyone gives you a hard time, you call me, alright babe?”

You can’t do this, you can’t do this, you can’t—“I will. Um. I have to go. Lo—” Too close. “…Nice talking to you, Zen.” You end the call before he finishes his goodbye and lean heavily against the counter. You feel a trail of wetness on your cheek as you sniffle and wipe your nose with the back of your hand. God. You’re a compete mess and it’s barely past lunch time. Can you really do this again? Can you pretend it’s all new, that you don’t know him? Is that how you get out of this nightmare?

Would he believe you if he knew the truth?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended you've played through at least one of Yoosung, Seven, or Zen's route due to small spoilers ^^

You’ve started buying books at the store down the street. You picked the top left one off the shelf and read it when you weren’t checking the RFA app to reply to emails and chat to the other members. It was a horrible, sappy romance, but it took your mind off of things for a while.

You also bought a cookbook. You’re skeptical if it will ever be worth it to try some of the ‘make-ahead’ meals it suggests, but you can’t go eating instant ramen every day. And that, too, gives you something to do.

More than anything, it gives you a sense of purpose. Even if tomorrow resets, even if everyone around you forgets who you are and forgets the memories you had together, you’ll still remember. You started thinking that maybe you’d try learning an instrument or studying a foreign language. 

Another two days have passed. You seem to be on the right track, then. You try to keep your eyes peeled for possible opportunities you might have missed the first time; some sort of reason you’d be forced to relive the same experience over again.

In the chatroom, Seven attempts to convince Yoosung that he’s afflicted with “Pass Out After Drinking Coffee Syndrome”. You tried telling Yoosung not to listen, but the young boy absorbs every word Seven says.

Seven is… certainly one-of-a-kind. You have trouble relating to him in the chatrooms with his strange sense of humour. He _seems_ all fun-and-games, but whenever someone tries to ask him about himself, like his past or his family, he’s very quick to change the topic. You wonder if he has a bad relationship with them like Zen did.

Or… well, like Zen _does._ You suppose that Zen still hasn’t resolved his family issues yet. God, it’s exhausting thinking about things like this.

Jaehee convinces Yoosung at last that he is not, in fact, going to die after drinking coffee. You smile a little to yourself at his naiveté as he swears off of believing anything Seven says ever again. Jaehee excuses herself to take care of work and Yoosung logs out as well, leaving you alone in the chatroom. With nothing else left to do, you switch to your music app and put in your headphones, drowning out your thoughts with a playlist of old songs from when you were in high school. You know all the lyrics off by heart so it’s not hard to tune them out and turn both the lyrics and your thoughts into white noise.

In your kitchen, you dump the bread dough you’d begun preparing in the morning out onto your counter with a bit of flour. You made a loaf yesterday, and the time-consuming kneading process had been surprisingly soothing. You breathe deeply in time with the rhythm of your music pulsing through your earbuds and rub some flour on your hands to begin working the dough.

_Brrrrring brrrrring._

The music stops and your ears are assaulted by your new ringtone, now playing at a very high volume through your headphones. You look at your hands, covered in white powder, and awkwardly wave them around trying to dislodge your earbuds without touching anything. You push your arm against your chest to try to drag the cord down and away from your ear when you hear a click and the ringing stops. Did they hang up?

“Whaa-chaaaaa!” comes a voice, shrill in your right ear. Confusion temporarily prevents you from identifying the caller, but— “Defender of Justice, Seven Zero Seven, has arrived!”

_Loud, loud, loud._ You shake the other earbud out of your ear and it falls to the floor, still tethered to your phone in your pocket. You run some water in the sink and clean off your right hand, then turn the volume of your phone down and put your earbuds back in. You must have clicked the ‘play’ button embedded onto the cord while trying to yank it off.

“Da da dum~ Oh! You did pick up!” Despite making him wait for nearly thirty seconds, apparently Seven hasn’t hung up his phone yet.

“Hi, Seven,” you say. “You need me?”

“Nope!” he says. He sounds so cheerful. You’re not sure how he manages it. “Just wanted to see how you were doing. It’s hard to tell from just the chatrooms.”

_Ha._ You dip your hand in the flour again and start to knead. “I’m all right,” you say, pressing the dough into the counter with the heels of your hands.  “I was baking, actually.”

“Ooooh, homemade food! So wonderful! Perfect girlfriend material!” You can hear him snickering on the other end of the line. “You know, Zen seems to be getting along pretty well with you these days~”

“Oh?” you say, flipping the dough around to work on the other side.

“Haven’t you noticed him logging in more often to talk to you? Hmm, maybe not, since this is pretty new to you.” You can hear him let out a breath and his cheerful tone drops for a moment. “You’re really doing all right, though? Rika’s apartment is okay?”

 For a moment, it almost feels like Seven knows about the time loop – like he somehow realizes that, if you’re being honest with yourself? You’re still not ‘all right’. As if he knows you’re just putting up a front.

…What if he did? Or what if you told him? Would Seven believe you?

“Seven,” you say, and you realize you’ve stopped kneading. Your palms are slightly sweaty and the flour sticks to them in damp chunks. You push the heels of your hands back into the dough with more force. “Can I tell you something? Do you have a moment?”

There’s silence on the other end, then you hear some sort of clacking and Seven’s voice comes back on the line. “Of course I’ll listen. What’s wrong?”

“I know about the bomb,” you say. He’s silent again and you hold your breath, straining to hear some sort of reaction.

“You… what?” Any trace of joking from his voice is long gone.

“I did this before,” you hurry to explain. “I talked to you through the messenger, joined the RFA, moved into Rika’s apartment—all of it. And the day after the party I woke up in my old house like nothing had happened.”

“Uh…” Seven seems at a loss. It’s rare to hear him be so silent. A piece of dough comes off in your hands and you realize you’ve been digging your nails into it.

“Seven, please,” you say. “It’s the truth. I went through countless days trying to talk to the person who led me to the apartment but I always get reset to the first day. I…”

You suddenly feel nauseous. You try to shake the feeling away and swallow thickly before continuing. “I-I… think it has something to do…with…with the RFA…” Your countertop dips and sways and your head feels fuzzy. What is going on? Is it a side effect of all the time loops? You thrust a hand out to grab the counter to brace yourself, but your fingers close on empty air and you lose your balance. Your elbow hits the tile floor painfully.

You’re dimly aware of Seven saying your name on the other end of the line, his voice growing in concern. Your kitchen becomes a blur of colours and there’s a pressure in the back of your head that’s drowning out your ability to think. What… what’s happening…?

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluffiest part to this fic yet, actually ^^ Spoilers for Day 7 of Zen’s route.

You’re here again, outside the door to Zen’s apartment. Deep breaths. In… and out. It’s been a long, long time since you’ve seen him in person. You’ve done everything right; no one suspects you know more than you should. No one knows this isn’t the first time you’ve gone through this day. You’ve played your part perfectly thus far, and the show must go on. You can’t forget your lines now.

You knock at his door and bounce anxiously on your toes as you wait for him to answer. What if he doesn’t like the… ‘new’ you? What if he can see through your cheerful façade in the chatrooms? What if you say something wrong?

You hear footsteps on the other side of the door and your heart is thudding so loudly in your chest that you feel like your whole body must be vibrating. The handle clicks and the door swings open.

You’re speechless.

Zen stands in front of you, quite close, holding his phone in one hand. There’s a little nervous smile playing at the corner of his lips and you can’t help but stare at him for a moment. It feels like you’ve had the oxygen sucked out of your lungs.

“Are you…” he begins.

“—It’s me,” you say. “It’s… nice to meet you, Zen.”

Zen’s face lights up and he ushers you inside. “Oh my gosh, I’m so excited you’re here,” he says, shutting the door behind you. “Was your ride over okay? How are you? Rika’s work isn’t too hard?”

God, what you wouldn’t give to wrap your arms around him and just stay in his embrace forever. But… you can’t. You’ve just met. In fact, if memory serves, you hadn’t done anything beyond hand-holding the first time you came to his house.

You notice Zen’s awkward gait as he takes your jacket from you and hangs it on a hook by the door. “I’m fine, of course,” you say. “What about your ankle? How are you feeling?”

“It’ll heal soon,” he says with a sigh, looking gloomily at his cast. “It’s just really inconvenient right now.”

“Oh, I should’ve brought groceries,” you say, suddenly remembering your original plan to cook for him.

“We could buy them together!” Gosh, you’ve forgotten just how plainly Zen wears his heart on his sleeve. He can’t seem to stay still and hovers around looking for something to do. His innocent grin reminds you of a child’s carefree smile.

“You’re okay to walk there?” you ask, even though you already know the answer.

He nods vigorously. “I just need someone to come with me, and now that you’re here…” Is he… blushing? “Gahh, this is so exciting! I hate that it was the cat freak who sent you over, but I’m so glad you came. Here, let me get my jacket and we can go. I’ll be right back!”

His attitude is infectious and you find yourself smiling. You relax a little and feel some of the tension leave your shoulders. This feels right, being here. Now if you can just figure out what goes wrong on Day 11 that causes you to reset…

* * *

 

She’s a dream come true, Zen thinks.

He watches her shake the pan of vegetables she’s frying before returning to her chopping, combining more ingredients in a bowl. It smells absolutely heavenly. Zen can’t remember anyone ever cooking for him before, and she’s so good at it.

All of her movements are calm and precise, as though she’s made this dish a million times before. She effortlessly multitasks cooking part of the dish while preparing the other, and he marvels at her ability to stay so organized and collected. She seems to know all the steps and measurements by heart, as there’s no recipe in sight.

She looks up and catches him staring. Oops.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

“No, no,” Zen rushes to explain, “you’re just… I mean, you’re really good at cooking. How did you learn?”

A faraway look crosses her face and she almost seems… sad? Perhaps someone who had taught her had passed away, or she had unhappy memories associated with learning how to cook…

Her expression is replaced by a smile and it’s almost as though he never saw the sadness at all. “I used to be pretty bad at it,” she confesses, turning back to the food, “but I… read a lot of books and practiced making different things. It’s just a matter of knowing which ingredients go well together.”

Zen finds himself thinking about how nice it would be to have her cook for him every day… gahh, it’s such a strange thought and he feels his cheeks grow warm. He’s barely known her for a week, and yet it feels like much longer. He really, really hopes she stays in the RFA for a long time. She’s so much fun to talk to on the messenger.

She adds the rest of her ingredients to the frying pan and stirs it together, adjusting the temperature of the stove before covering the pan with a lid and leaving it to simmer. Maybe she could teach him how to cook. And then she’d have to come back to his house and visit him more, too…

“It just has to simmer for twenty minutes, and then we can eat,” she says, sitting across from him at the small table. She stretches her hands out over the table towards him but then abruptly pulls them back close to her body as though she’s changed her mind. She drops them in her lap and fiddles with the ring she’s wearing on her right hand, staring down at it like she’s avoiding his gaze. What was that about?

“The food smells wonderful,” he says, leaning towards her on his elbows. “I wish I could have you cook for me every day, haha.”

Her eyes snap up to look at him and she lets out a short breath. “Um, thank you,” she says. “I haven’t really cooked for anyone but myself in a long time, so I hope it tastes good…”

He wishes he could hold her hand, or hug her, even just a reassuring pat to let her know how amazing he thinks she is, but they _did_ just meet and he… really shouldn’t. Not now. Not yet. He should do this conventionally—talk to her more, get to know her better, maybe take her out on a date…

A date. Is that what he wants to do? Does he like her like that? Would he want to take her to a fancy restaurant, hold her hand, walk her to her doorstep, give her a goodnight kiss? Listen to her talk about all her fears and problems and hold her until she feels safe? Stay up late talking to her and wake up in the morning with her face as the first thing he sees?

Yes. Yes, he very much does.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Zen’s route (takes place after the party on Day 11). Fluff + Angst

“Stay here,” Zen says before he opens the taxi door and climbs out. You’re confused for a moment until he reappears on the other side of the vehicle and opens your door for you. “My lady,” he says, smiling as he offers a hand to you.

You return the smile and place your hand in his. “Thank you,” you say. He pulls you to your feet and you end up standing quite close to him. _Very_ close, in fact. You can smell his cologne. Zen loosens his grip on your hand as though he expects you to let go, but you lace your fingers through his, instead. “Do you mind?” you ask.

The look on Zen’s face says more than words ever could. His cheeks grow pink and you can feel that his palm is slightly sweaty. “N-no, not at all,” he says, squeezing your hand. You respond with a squeeze of your own.

The short walk to Zen’s apartment is quiet, each of you lost in reflection on the long day of the party. It was exhausting, certainly. There were tons of guests to be entertained, people to be introduced to, and Zen’s press conference to boot. It had been a long time since you last heard him confess his feelings to you on that stand. It almost felt like it had the first time.

Zen unlocks the door and you step inside, removing your VIP lanyard and finally taking off your high heels. Ouch. You massage the backs of your feet in the hopes that you won’t have blisters tomorrow. _Not that it’ll matter if there_ isn’t _a tomorrow, anyways…_ You shake the thought away. What time is it? Oh… just after 9pm. Not a lot of time until the next day, then.

Zen takes his jacket off and drapes it over the back of the couch. He looks handsome in his dress shirt, especially when he pushes the sleeves back like that…. A familiar pain returns, somewhere inside your chest. _He’s not really yours,_ you think. _Like Cinderella, the fairy tale is over at midnight…_

You walk up beside him and lay a hand on his arm. “Zen, can I… um…” You’re not sure how to put it in words. He turns to face you and on impulse you wrap your arms around his chest and press your face to his shirt. “I’m sorry,” you say into the fabric, your voice muffled.

If Zen is confused, he hides it well. His arms circle around your body and pull you close, tracing light circles on your back with his fingers. It’s very soothing and you close your eyes, listening to the beat of his heart. He’s here, and you’re here, and everything exists like it should right now. This is the eleventh day. This time you’ll find out if you did something right.

* * *

 

Despite your protests, Zen insists he will sleep on the couch again tonight and you’ll get his bed. “I don’t know if I can trust myself to sleep in the same room as you,” he says, but if it’s anything like last time, you know you can convince him.

You get ready for bed and burrow under Zen’s covers, leaning up against the headboard and opening your book after checking the time again. 10:37pm. Not much time left, now.

A knock on the door takes your attention away from your novel. “Come in,” you say, and Zen enters the room.

He’s holding a mug, which he hands to you. “I thought it might help you sleep,” he says, and you sniff at the contents. Ah. It’s the same tea he made you last night.

“Thank you,” you say, blowing gently on the liquid to cool it before taking a sip. Mmm. “It’s delicious.” He’s still standing by the bed and you pat the mattress beside you. After a moment’s hesitation, he sits next to you.

“What are you reading?” he asks, motioning to the book you set down.

Gee, what _are_ you reading? You’d finished reading all the cookbooks you could get your hands on, and now you were on fiction authors with last names that start with C. “It’s… set in the future, and there’s a ‘Matrix’-like virtual reality game that everyone plays.” Zen cocks his head to the side and you pass him the book. “Take a look, if you like.”

He looks over the book while you sip at your tea, staying by your side even after you place the empty mug on the nightstand. He traces light patterns on your knee with his fingertips, and his touch is incredibly comforting. You lean into his shoulder and ask the question you’d been avoiding for the past while. “…Zen, what time is it?”

He glances to his left to check the clock. “Just after eleven,” he says, and kisses the top of your head. “You should probably go to bed soon.”

No! He can’t leave—what if… what if this ends and these are the last few moments you have with him? You realize you’re clutching onto his shirt and reluctantly release the fabric. “Before that, though, um…” You pull back from his shoulder and turn onto your side to better face him. “Can I… kiss you?”

Zen’s face grows a touch pinker and he smiles like an embarrassed school boy. “I-if you… um…mm!”

You interrupt him with a short kiss which he immediately responds to, the hand that had been tracing patterns on your knee moving to your waist while his other hand brushes your hair back. You kiss him several times again, each one longer than the last. You’re both in a somewhat awkward sideways position, however… you pull back from the last kiss and shuffle away slightly. “Do you… mind laying down more?” you ask tentatively.

Zen nods and obliges, sliding down onto the mattress so he’s laying on his back. You’re careful to keep some distance between your bodies as you lower your mouth to his for another kiss, using the hand you have placed by his shoulder to brace yourself so you aren’t directly on top of him. You draw out the next few kisses, bringing a hand up to cup Zen’s face. You never want to forget how this feels. With the hand at your waist he fidgets with the hem of your shirt, allowing his fingertips to brush against your bare skin every now and then. You shiver and feel some of the tension you’ve been carrying for so long dissipate.

It’s… so nice to have him here with you like this. He feels warm and strong and safe beneath you, and the way he responds to even just a light touch makes your heart slam against your ribcage. His fingers hesitate at the bare skin by the bottom of your shirt and you can sense his indecision, wondering what you’re all right with, what sort of touch you want from him. You pause between kisses and put your hand over his, pushing up the fabric of your shirt slightly so his hand touches the bare skin of your back. He seems to understand, drawing his arm around you to pull you closer and gently caress your side. You melt into his embrace and lean closer, putting more of your weight onto him as you deepen the next kiss.

His skin is so smooth as you run your fingertips down his neck, tracing along his collarbone. He shivers at your touch and you smile into the kiss, trying to memorize everything about him. You want to remember the feeling of his hands on your body, the way he’s holding you against him, the shape and texture of his lips on yours…

Zen’s arm tightens around your waist, and then suddenly he’s pulling away. He kisses you on your forehead and you notice his breathing is quite irregular. “You… I think you and I should go to sleep, princess.” He pauses to catch his breath. “It’s been… a really long day.”

Part of you is touched at how concerned he is, but some other part wants to crush his mouth to yours again and make yourself forget that you might only have half an hour left with him.

 _No._ You can’t let yourself be this pessimistic. You’ve gotten this far, haven’t you? You’re definitely making progress. You have to believe that there _will_ be a tomorrow.

You sigh and nod. Zen moves as if to get up but you put a hand on his chest to push him back down onto the sheets. “Can I… be a bit selfish?” you ask.

Zen’s eyes soften as he meets your gaze. “What is it?”

“Will you stay with me? At least until I fall asleep?”

Even if he doesn’t know the exact reason why you’re asking… he smiles and agrees. You crawl under the covers with him and snuggle under his arm with your head on his chest. “Thank you… for being here with me,” you say.

Zen kisses the top of your head and rubs your arm. “Anything for you, my princess.”

 _There_ will _be a tomorrow,_ you think. _I have to believe there will be._

You fall asleep listening to Zen’s heartbeat, his steady breathing lulling you into a deep, contented slumber – the most peaceful one in months.

* * *

 

Zen strokes his love’s hair and notices her breathing has finally evened out. Is she really sleeping? He thinks so. She looks like she’s smiling a little as she dreams and Zen hopes it’s a good dream. Maybe one with him in it?

It feels like he’s known her forever, but… it’s crazy to think it’s actually been less than two weeks. Sometimes he has dreams of the time they’ve spent together, but they never play out quite the same way as they do in real life. Her smile is always pure and happy in his dreams, too. He notices that there’s often a shadow of sadness in her actual smiles. He wishes more than anything that he could somehow make the sadness go away… all he can do is reassure her that he loves her now and forever, and that he will never disappear on her.

Zen reaches his left arm slowly towards his night stand to grab his phone without disturbing the slumbering angel on his chest and notices that it’s nearly midnight. He considers logging onto the RFA chatroom to see what the others have written when she twitches in his arms and he circles them tighter around her in response. Perhaps she’s having a bad dream? A little gasp that almost sounds like she’s in pain leaves her lips and Zen rubs her shoulder gently. Should he wake her up?

“No…” she mumbles, and she clenches her fist around the fabric of Zen’s shirt. “No, no…”

“Hey,” Zen says, shaking her shoulder. “Darling. Wake up, it’s just a dream.”

Suddenly, her eyes are wide open and she stares at him with a terrified expression. She doesn’t seem to be seeing his face at all and her eyes look glassy. “No! Not again…” she says, and goes limp in his arms.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I'm so sorry I'm a terrible person and will accept my fate orz_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler free, this time!  
>  _Did someone say **angst?**_

_Bzzt bzzt._

You throw your phone at the wall and hear the glass shatter upon impact. The fabric is damp against your cheek as you bury your face in your pillow.

***

_Bzzt bzzt._

You refuse to answer Unknown’s messages and drop your phone out the window. It lands with a satisfying smash as it hits the pavement.

***

_Bzzt bzzt._

You try calling Zen even though you’ve never met. You only get his voicemail.

You feel nothing.

***

Seven is becoming really concerned about their newest RFA member. In the chatrooms she acts cheerful and flirty, and certainly seems to have captured Zen’s heart. Yet whenever he sees her on his CCTV feed, she always seems to be carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She buys bizarre amounts of books each day and seems to read through them at a tremendous rate, as she hauls most of the previous day’s purchases back to the store the next day.

She doesn’t always pick up his calls, but when she does he always thinks of a glass doll; someone who could shatter under too much pressure. She seems fragile to him, like holding herself together requires an enormous amount of effort.

Yet she always seems to have the perfect response for texts and chatrooms, like she’s reading the answers out of one of those books she keeps buying. Of course, even Seven hid parts of his personality behind a joking demeanor in the chatroom, but her situation seems different. At times she seems robotic, but in a different way from how he teases Jumin or Jaehee about being a robot. It’s like she’s analyzing their personalities and spitting out the answers she knows will make them happy. Like the AI argument with the girl in the Chinese room.

Seven shakes the thoughts out of his mind. Of course she’s a real person. He can see her in the CCTV feeds walking to Rika’s apartment. And AI hasn’t advanced that far, yet. He should know.

But still… there’s something that bothers him about the way she acts. He wishes he could place it, but she doesn’t seem inclined to tell him. She’s quick to deflect questions about how she’s doing, or answer them with a joke. Like she’s purposefully keeping everyone at arm’s length. Even Zen, who seems to know her best, has no answers. “She’ll tell me when she’s ready,” he told Seven in a phone call. “I don’t want her to feel pressured to tell us everything.”

Seven finds himself watching her through the CCTV feeds more frequently, hoping to find out more about why she acts the way she does. He wishes she would log into the chatroom more often – he’s not certain, but it seems that she only ever logs in when Zen’s online. What does she do when she’s not in the chatroom? She doesn’t leave the apartment much except to buy books and occasionally groceries. Does she work from home? Take classes online? Just read books all day?

On impulse, Seven picks up his phone and dials her number. It rings once… twice… a third ti— _click._

“Yes?”

“Gooood evening!” Seven says, injecting as much enthusiasm as he can muster into his voice. “What’s a pretty lady like you doing up at this hour?”

He thinks he hears her sigh on the other end of the line. “Just… reading,” she says. “I found out that there’s a lady down the street who might let me take piano lessons from her.”

She plays piano? “I didn’t know you played,” Seven says.

“I don’t.” She doesn’t elaborate any further and Seven decides not to press it.

“Well, it’s always good to learn new skills~” he says. “How’s Rika’s work been going?”

There’s a brief pause before she answers. “Um, good. I’m just using the app to email the guests like you explained.”

Seven swivels his chair in a circle, watching his room whirl past him. “You should log into the chat more often~” he says. “Everyone wants to talk to you, you know.”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m just busy sometimes. Thanks, though.” He can hear the sound of paper rustling on the other end. “Well, I’m probably off to bed soon, then,” she says. “Nice talking with you.”

“Oooh, I understand,” Seven says. “Sweet dreams!” _Click._

Seven pulls his phone away from his ear. He didn’t even talk to her for a full minute. …Is she really all right?

***

In the morning when you wake up, you notice that Yoosung wrote some very strange things in the chatroom late last night. He made weird claims that he, Jaehee, and Zen were just robots brainwashed and programmed by V and Seven, and it looks like Zen and Jaehee went to his house to check on him. No one is online now.

Someone knocks at the door to Rika’s apartment. Huh. This has never happened before. Was Seven really so worried about you last night that he’s coming to visit you now? No one else should know you live here.

Still in your pajamas, you walk barefoot over to the door and peer through the peephole. Your visitor is so close to the door you can’t see anything above their chin, but it definitely looks like Seven. Not that you’d seen him much in person, since you only talked to him briefly at the party, but…. You open the door.

White hair. Mint eyes. A smile that makes your heart stop cold.

It’s not Seven.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended you’ve played at least one of Zen, Yoosung, or Seven’s route due to small spoilers ^^

_Shit._ An icy hand grips your insides. You try to slam the door shut, but the intruder – Unknown, whatever his name is – thrusts his leg in its path and forces it back open. You almost fall over at the strength behind his shove and scramble to regain your footing, pushing off of the wall and running to the kitchen. There has to be a knife, o-or a frying pan… anything you can use to defend yourself…

The intruder is in the doorway to the kitchen just as you pull out a knife and brandish it in front of you with both hands. Goddammit, it’s your bread knife. The rounded tip and serrated edge do little to make you look menacing. Why had you spent all your excess time cooking and reading instead of studying judo or self-defense?

“Why are you here?” you demand, trying to force down your fear and turn it into anger. “What the hell do you want?” Would Seven have seen the intruder on the CCTV screen? Would he be able to get here in time?

The man holds up his hands as if to surrender, and you notice he’s holding a switch. It’s… a very familiar switch.

Something inside you snaps. _Get me out of this loop._ You hurl your knife at the man – it’s a poor throw, and he easily dodges it. It clatters to the floor harmlessly. “Don’t be like that,” he says, and his voice causes goosebumps to appear along your arms. “Come with me, and we can live in paradise.”

He takes a step closer to you and you no longer have a weapon to defend yourself with. Time for the next best thing. You allow him to walk a few more steps until he’s quite close… then lunge towards him, reaching for the trigger in his right hand.

“No! You don’t understand what this does!” the man shouts as you grab his arm, and there’s a trace of panic in his voice. He tries to use his height to his advantage and wrestles the trigger above your head with both hands. You clutch at his wrists and use your full weight to pull down on his arms. Clearly not expecting to be supporting your entire body, he drops you to the floor with a thud.

 _Success._ The trigger is in your grasp. “Don’t–!” the man yells, but it’s too late. The button makes an audible _click_ as you press down and for a moment, time seems to slow. The intruder collapses to his knees in front of you and there’s sheer terror written all over his face. The last thing you see are his eyes, wide and innocent like a child’s, before a blast of heat and light consumes the building.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

_Breathe. Deep breaths._

You struggle to draw air into your lungs and feel like you’re suffocating in a web of bedsheets. Maybe it’s your imagination but there’s still a ringing in your ears and a flush of heat on your face.

_Come on, just take a deep… breath… you’re still in one piece… you’re fine… you’re fine…._

You hate this.

You hate this _so much_ , and yet there’s no way out.

A frustrated cry bursts from your lips and seems to echo around you, filling your bedroom with the sounds of your stupid, pitiful sobbing. Clearly someone, somewhere, hates you so much they’re willing to make you go through _years’_ worth of the same eleven days, over and over, on an endless treadmill.

How much longer can you do this?

How much time until you’re so broken that even someone like Zen can’t love you anymore?

Maybe you’re already beyond repair. You failed to talk to him past the fifth day. You’ve never been reset this early unless you made a mistake, like telling Seven about the time loops or not going to Rika’s apartment. Maybe this is some sort of divine intervention. Some higher being that’s trying to send you a message. _You’re so twisted and damaged,_ it says, _that you don’t even deserve to meet him in person any more._

_Bzzt bzzt._

…

You’re _this_ close to throwing your phone out the window again, but you pick it up and pull yourself into a sitting position, rubbing the back of your hand across your cheeks to wipe away the wetness. Your body shakes with the occasional hiccup that you can’t seem to suppress.

 _‘…Hello…?’_ says the message, the same one you’ve seen a thousand times. You consider setting your phone back down and ignoring it again, but… a curious thought enters your mind. What would happen if you went to the apartment, joined the RFA and just… did nothing? How many days would pass, if any? Is it worth it to try, or just another dead end? Through ignoring them, could you… take a kind of ‘vacation’ from the RFA?

You think about this for a long while, leaning against your headboard and closing your eyes. Your hiccups gradually disappear and your breathing is almost back to normal, though your hands are still shaking. You’ve noticed that it’s difficult to keep them from trembling lately. It takes you three tries but you type a single question mark into the chat and send it to Unknown.

Yes, maybe if you take a break – take some piano lessons from that lady you found, study a foreign language, take some martial arts classes – maybe if you can get yourself to forget your future is lost in an endless stream of the same eleven days, you’ll feel better.

Unknown sends another message. _‘Can you read this?’_

_‘Yes.’_

This is it, then. You’ll go to the apartment and see how far you can get by ignoring the RFA. And if it resets, it resets. You’ll try again. You can always do today over again, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing this as a break between assignments, wow XD Should've probably done those first but I can't stop thinking about this and writing it...ahh hope you liked it, too ^^


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small spoilers for Day 7 of Zen’s route. Fluff + Angst :)

“Oh, do you play?” Zen asks, noticing the way she eyes his keyboard.

She tests out the beginning notes of Für Elise, twiddling the black and white keys back and forth. “I do,” she says softly, not looking up from the piano.

“Have you been playing for long? Do you know any pieces off by heart?” Zen can’t help the questions from spilling out. Is he talking too much? She _is_ rather quiet in person; more than he thought she would be from speaking to her in the chatrooms. She often seems to be lost in thought, or perhaps carefully considering her next action. It’s difficult to read her expressions.

She glances up at Zen and gives him a little smile before looking down at the keyboard again. “I’ve been playing for a few years, now,” she says. “I can play you a piece I wrote, once.”

 _She writes her own piano music?_ Not only did she bring groceries and cook him the best meal he’d had in years, but she can play piano, too. She really is amazing. “Yes!” he says. “I’d love to hear it.”

She pulls out the bench and finds the sustain pedal with her foot. “I don’t really write a lot of music, but there’s this one I spent a long time on,” she explains, testing out a few chords and adjusting the volume of his keyboard.  “I wrote it while… thinking of someone important.”

“Should I be jealous?” Zen asks, retrieving a chair from the dining table to sit next to her.

She gives a short laugh. “No, definitely not,” she says. “Why don’t we say that the important person is you?”

It’s an obvious lie, seeing as she’s been working on the piece for a long time when he’d only known her for a week, but it's nice to have her tease him. “Gahh, don’t tell a man that,” he says, and winks. “You never know what he might be thinking.”

One corner of her mouth turns upwards. “Do you want to hear the song or not?” she asks.

“Yes! I promise I’ll be quiet now.”

The piece starts off with some sharp chords and off-key notes and turns into a surprisingly jazzy tune. Zen isn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been this. She’d seemed more like the kind of girl who’d enjoy classical music, he thinks, rather than jazz.

He finds himself bobbing along to the rhythm of the song and is rudely reminded of the cast encasing his ankle when he goes to tap his foot to the beat. Ah, yes. His injury. Well, at the very least, it had allowed for the circumstances which brought their newest member to his house. For that, he was grateful.

It seems like some sections of the piece she’s merely improvising as she goes, but Zen’s not quite sure. It doesn’t have a specific tune, but it’s very catchy. She ends the song with a short chromatic melody and some final notes at the very top of the keyboard. Zen applauds when she’s finished and her cheeks are a little pink when she turns to look at him.

“Did you like it?” she asks, and seems curiously anxious to hear his reply.

“I loved it! I can’t believe you made it up yourself,” Zen says. “I tend to only use this keyboard to play along with songs in my musicals and such. I don’t know if I could ever write a piece myself, though.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea to practice for your musicals,” she says, nodding. “I’m sure you could write something if you put your mind to it. It… does take a while, though.” She glances down at her watch. She seems to check the time often, which is perhaps why she wears a watch instead of checking the time on her phone. “It’s getting a bit late, isn’t it…” she muses to herself.

“Do you want to go home? You could stay longer, if you like.” He really hopes she’ll stay just a little bit longer – there’s someplace he wants to show her.

“I’d like to stay for a few more hours, if that’s all right with you.”

“Really? Gosh, it makes me so happy to hear that.” Zen’s heart thumps loudly in his chest and he wonders if she can hear it. “Um… if you don’t mind,” Zen says, standing up and putting his chair back at the dining table, “there’s something I was hoping to show you tonight.” God, his palms are sweaty. Is he really this nervous about having her here? He’s never taken anyone up to the rooftop of his apartment building before, but he feels like she’ll understand why it’s special to him. “Will you follow me?”

* * *

 

You’re both quiet after Zen finishes his story, and his eyes sparkle with the reflection of thousands of stars as he stares into the night sky. You watch him for a moment before looking to the stars yourself. So many tiny suns, each one with its own solar system and maybe even a life-bearing planet just like Earth. Maybe they’re all parallel universes and on one of them, you live a happy life with Zen.

But not this universe.

Zen looks at you and you turn to face him. “Can I…” he starts, and you already know what he’s about to ask, “…hold your hand?”

You place your hand over Zen’s and fit your fingers in the spaces between his. Zen’s cheeks flush pink as he looks at your entwined fingers and he squeezes your hand gently. He’s quiet for a moment and you say nothing as well, just sitting together beneath the night sky.

Perhaps coming here today was a mistake. After what amounted to years spent as far from the RFA as you could manage given the circumstances, spending a few hours with Zen confirmed what you’d started to suspect but couldn’t admit to yourself.

You don’t feel the same way about Zen any more.

You still care about him – that much is certain. But the butterflies, the racing heartbeat, the excitement you used to get upon talking to him and seeing him in person just… isn’t there any longer.

Zen takes a deep breath as if he’s going to say something, and you know he’s going to tell you that maybe it isn’t a good idea for you to stay here this late, that maybe you should go home tonight. But there’s something you have to tell him, first.

“Zen, wait,” you say. “I know what you’re going to tell me. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot ever since I got here, and I want to tell you something first. I think this will reset things, but… no, resetting is probably for the best.”

Zen looks confused, but he doesn’t interrupt you and nods his head. You continue. “I… am not quite the person you’ve been talking to in the chatrooms. It’s a long story, but I just wanted to tell you that I…” You swallow around a lump in your throat and blink a few times. “…I really hope you find someone who will be good to you and love you even more than I did. You’ll always have a special place in my heart–!”

You can barely finish the sentence and bury your face into his shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry I can’t be the person I once was. I really…” You sniffle and squeeze your eyes shut to prevent more tears from escaping. “I really loved you. And I’m so sorry.”

It takes you a second to realize Zen’s saying your name as a wave of nausea passes over you and you feel as if gravity is shifting beneath you. “Are you… are you all right?” He says your name more urgently, but his voice is already fading away with the rest of the world, just like you knew it would.

_This is for the best._

Of course it is. So why does it feel like your heart is breaking in two?

Maybe somewhere out there, some version of you in a parallel universe is living a happy life with Zen. A universe where the day after the party came and went, as all days are meant to.

But not this one.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny spoilers for Day 7 of Zen’s route.
> 
> Note: In this fic, all of the characters are Korean (as they are in canon). Therefore they are in South Korea and speak Korean as their first language (even though the fic is written in English). TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is a standardized test that measures how capable an individual is in reading, writing, and speaking English.

_Snip, snip._ Brown locks fall to the floor. It’s been a long time since you last cut your hair. It’s been even longer since you tried cutting your _own_ hair. But, well, you’ve got a lot of room for error now.

A long braid sits on the bathroom counter in front of you, the first casualty of your scissors. It was much harder than you’d thought it would be to hack through the thick bundle of hair, and your cuts were extremely choppy. In trying to straighten it, your hair has been getting shorter and shorter – you could probably consider it a pixie cut at this point.

You position the blades by your ear to cut off a strand that’s longer than the others and look in the mirror to ensure the cut will be symmetrical. You look… really different. You _feel_ a bit different. Your hair’s almost as short as Jaehee’s now, though she probably pulls it off better than you. Well, no one said it was a competition. _Snip._

Maybe you could try dyeing it next. You’ve never been blonde. It could be fun to be blonde for a day or two. Or a redhead. You wonder briefly if Seven will notice your new hair on his CCTV feed. Well. It doesn’t really matter, anyway.

You set the scissors down on your counter and shake your hand a little, trying to return the blood circulation to your arm. Your head feels… noticeably lighter without all the hair weighing it down. It feels like the back of your neck is more exposed than usual. You turn your head this way and that, trying to get a look at your new haircut.

If you’re being honest, it’s awfully uneven. It’s obvious you’ve never cut your own hair before. But the new length looks… fresh. New. It _feels_ new. Unlike everything else around you.

Maybe you could visit the fanciest hair salon in the city, and if you dropped enough cash, they’d fix your jagged cuts and uneven ends without even needing an appointment. It had worked for the piano lady down the street. And in the end, it didn’t matter that you were spending hundreds of dollars on piano lessons when you just reset at the end of your five days.

In another room, your phone goes off. Well, damn. Your bathroom’s a mess, but it’s the fourth day so there’s hardly any point in cleaning it up. You follow the ringing to your desk, shuffling through dozens of TOEIC practice papers and English language exercise books before you find your phone.

It’s… Zen. You stare at his profile picture, the same mirror selfie he always has by lunch time on the fourth day. You’re not even sure why you rushed over here. Habit, you suppose. You never intended to answer. Is it time for his afternoon call already? You hadn’t realized it had taken so long to cut your hair.

Your phone quiets and you set it aside. _Sorry, Zen._ But this is your ‘mental health month’. Another break from the RFA before you tried to talk to them again because goddammit, every time you see that Zen is logged into the chatroom you remember the first time you talked to him. Feeling excited when he called you, and nervous when you stood outside his house. But at the same time it all feels distant, like you remember that you _felt_ excited to talk to him, but you can’t remember the _feeling_ of excitement. It’s like waking up from a bizarre dream with no memories of the dream’s content save for a single thought — _‘what an odd dream’_.

Your TOEIC papers are strewn across your desk and you try to gather them back up in some semblance of an order. The last mock test gave you a score of 710, or ‘ability to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements’. You’re hoping to get to the next level, a score of at least 785, before you return to the RFA and join in the conversations. And if you feel confident enough in your English abilities, you can move on to another language. A few years ago when you’d started studying English, you made a list of the languages you could try learning in the event that this time loop never ended. English had been your top choice for its widespread use, but some possible candidates for your next language were French, Japanese, or Arabic.

Your phone lights up with a new notification – it looks like Jaehee and Jumin are online now. Below it you can see the ‘ _Missed Call (1) – Zen’_ notification. You sigh and cover the screen with one of your textbooks. How are you going to go through with participating in the chatrooms again? You’re not going to be able to go to Zen’s house. Even if you were somehow the world’s best actor and could… could convince him that you…

God, this sucks. You don’t even want to finish the thought. Maybe… maybe instead of _you_ going to his house, you can tell Jaehee to visit him. She had suggested it herself in the chatrooms, before Jumin ultimately shot her down and sent a car to take you to Zen instead. But maybe if you keep a polite distance from Zen and show you understand Jaehee’s point of view more, you won’t need to visit Zen to have the days continue on. Maybe it’ll be enough so long as _someone_ goes to see him, even if it isn’t you.

Or maybe you’ll have to wait until you no longer have any feelings towards him either way and can put on the face of the girl you were the first time you ever met him.

Even if it takes a century to do it – even if you wish you’d never existed by the end of it – someday, _someday_ , you will get to the twelfth day.

* * *

 

She cut her hair.

Why would she cut it?

Stupid. It looks better long.

She hid it under a cap the first time she left the apartment, but she took it off in the hallway when she returned and that’s when he realized she’d chopped it all off. She must have done it herself, too, because even though the security feed’s video is hardly high definition, he can still see the obviously jagged edges, the asymmetrical cuts.

Why would she cut her hair? It doesn’t fit with what he knows of her. He’s combed through her social media, her school reports, old email accounts – but every time he sees her she never seems to match up with what he knows.

He types another few lines into his console to hack into the feed from the camera by the door to the apartment. He’s much more careful with his code, now. The RFA’s hacker shouldn’t even be aware that he’s not the only one to see these video feeds – not like that first time when he’d hacked the RFA app to lure her to the apartment.

She’s holding onto another textbook as she punches in the code for the door. He can’t see much of the title, but it’s not in Korean. Why has she been reading so many foreign books lately? There’s nothing in her profile to even remotely suggest she’s interested in foreign languages. There is no cause, only a series of effects that he can’t understand. Why. _Why_.

He should bring her here soon. Then he can talk to her. Get some clues as to why she’s so different from her profile. _You can be my assistant,_ he’ll tell her. _Don’t worry. I’ll be good to you._


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended you’ve played at least one of Zen’s, Yoosung’s, or Seven’s routes due to small spoilers (or read Chapter 8, haha)

_Ping._ Behind you on the bed, your phone lights up with a new notification. Dammit. You can’t read it from here, but you know it’s about 1:30 in the morning. The notification will be from Yoosung, spouting nonsense again about how he, Jaehee, and Zen are robots programmed and brainwashed by Seven and V. So this is it, then. All your efforts to remain friendly but emotionally distant with Zen are ultimately worthless. You knew it as soon as the 12:30am chatroom hadn’t shown up as it did when you spoke to Zen and reached the eleventh day, but had still held out some small hope that maybe you were wrong…

Unknown will be at your door in a few hours, then. Time to get ready for the reset. This Arabic workbook you’ve been studying from isn’t that great; you should get a different one next time. There’s no need to buy the TOEIC practice books over again… but you should probably get that English-to-Arabic dictionary again on the next loop. It’s been helping you keep up with your English while you study Arabic.

What else… oh, you’d bought a pair of shoes this loop and still hadn’t worn them yet. Guess you’ll have to buy them next time, too. And buy the ingredients to make kimchi again since you weren’t going to be around for dinnertime tonight. Dammit. You’d prepared it on the first day and were actually looking forward to eating it later in the week… maybe you should have just eaten it for supper a few hours ago, even though it wasn’t as sour as you usually liked.

Should you leave now? You could stay up for a few more hours and leave closer to 5:00am. Unknown wouldn’t come until a bit later in the morning, and if you weren’t at the apartment when he arrived things would start to get fuzzy and you reset before he was able to kidnap you. If, instead, you stayed in the apartment until he arrived… well, _that_ was an experience you didn’t care to go through over and over. Once was far more than enough.

You put your face in your hands and sigh deeply, staring blurrily at your Arabic workbook. Reading each word takes forever because you still aren’t used to the writing system. You also have to keep reminding yourself that everything is written right to left, or else you end up with an incomprehensible jumble of syllables instead of a word.

Maybe you should just give up and play LOLOL like Yoosung. What does he like so much about that game, anyway? You’ve never actually tried it. You also currently lack a computer with enough power to handle such a resource-taxing game, but you can probably buy one and pay extra to ship it to yourself on the same day. Not now, of course – but perhaps after the reset.

 _All right,_ you tell yourself, sitting up again. You’ll get to the end of this lesson in your workbook, and then you can go back to day one and buy yourself a better computer. It’s good to take breaks sometimes, anyway. Maybe you’ll be able to relate to Yoosung better the next time you have to talk to him. After Zen and Yoosung log in at 5:35am, you’ll leave the apartment so you’re not here when Unknown arrives. You’ll just listen for your phone to go off around then.

* * *

 

_Ping._

You startle awake and unstick your cheek from the page of your workbook, rubbing your eyes and yawning. Morning light filters in through the windows of Rika’s fourteenth-floor apartment. Well, damn. You hadn’t intended to fall asleep. Is it 5:35am already?

Wait.

Why is it so bright outside?

Shit. _Shit._ Is it 7:00am already? When Jaehee logs in to tell you Yoosung isn’t home? Did you sleep through the other notification? Goddammit. Shit. Unknown will be here soon and you sure as hell don’t want to be around when he arrives.

You push back your chair so forcefully it falls over and clatters noisily onto the floor. Not important. Snatching up your phone, you click a button to turn on the screen and see the notification “ _Jaehee Kang is now online”._ Shit, _shit._ What if Unknown is already outside of the apartment? What if it’s too late to leave, now? You could… probably get the bomb trigger from him again if you had to, but…

_Jumin Han is now online._

Wait, what?

Another notification is just above the one that says Jaehee is online. Jumin… is never online in the morning on the fifth day. You look through your past notifications. _3:13am - Zen is now online._ 3:13am? No, no, he always logs in at 5:35am and talks to Yoosung. _Jaehee_ logs in at 3:22am, reads what Yoosung wrote, and starts to get worried.

You look up from the notifications and notice the current time. 6:50am.

Wait. It’s not… 7:00am yet? Why is Jaehee logging in early? And Jumin?

Your hands are shaking and you almost drop your phone. What is going on? Why aren’t they logging in at the same times? No one’s ever logged in at 6:50am on the fifth day. Did you do something wrong? Is Unknown coming early? Is it because you spent more time talking to Jaehee and less time talking to Zen for the past several days?

You realize you’re starting to sweat and you feel short of breath, like someone is choking you. Your phone slides out of your hands onto the floor and you wonder if there’s something seriously wrong with you. Your head feels light and you might throw up. Oh God. Oh God. You can’t breathe. Is this another reset? Why isn’t everything fading away? Are you dying? Did you mess up? How are you supposed to act? What are you doing wrong?

You fall to the floor on your hands and knees. Oh God. You’re dying. This is it. You try to swallow and can’t, like there’s a fist squeezing your windpipe and esophagus in a death grip. Your labored breaths sound like sobs and you start thinking that maybe this will really be it, maybe this is really how the infinite loop will end, with you panicking on the floor of Rika’s apartment.

You stare at a dark swirl in the hardwood floor and try desperately to control your breathing. Take a deep breath. Just get some oxygen in your lungs. You can breathe. You can breathe.

After a long time, you start feeling like you can actually inhale a full breath of air. There’s still something clogging your throat, but it’s not as big, now. _Okay. You’re okay. Not dying._

Your hands are a quivering mess and you’re not sure you can do much more than sit against the bed waiting for the rest of the symptoms to pass. God. Is it because none of your times are matching up anymore? Because everyone is logging in when they’re not supposed to?

Isn’t this… a good thing? Right? It should be. Change is good. Maybe… maybe you’re on the path to get out of the time loop. Maybe that’s why things are different.

…You do _want_ to get out of the time loop, don’t you? To a time where you don’t have everyone’s schedules memorized, where talking to someone is a new and fresh experience?

God, what if _everyone_ starts logging in at different times now, and saying things you’ve never heard them say before. How are you supposed to reply? What do they want to hear? What will make the days pass?

You draw your knees up to your chest and put your face in your hands. It’s okay. You can do this. This is good – it might help you get out of the time loop. This is a positive thing.

_Ping._

You look down at your phone. _Zen is now online._ You swallow.

You can do this. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for part of Jaehee’s first Bad End.
> 
> This chapter also includes an 'audio' clip (well, just an embedded YouTube video with a small player) with the rain sound effects that I listened to while writing this. Up to you to listen to it if you find it sets the mood~

Your phone buzzes and you drop one of your chopsticks in your kimchi. Geez. It’s unsettling not knowing when anyone’s going to log on. You use the hand not holding your chopsticks to slide your phone closer and click the screen to life.

_7:09pm – Jaehee Kang is now online._

_7:10pm – 707 is now online._

You pause for a moment before unlocking your phone to log into the RFA app. Jaehee and Seven greet you before continuing their conversation. Jaehee seems very worried about how Zen is recovering from his injury and suggests that she might visit him. It’s only the sixth day, though – normally you wouldn’t be discussing this sort of thing until tomorrow. But that’s not the only thing that’s different – Seven says that there might be a stalker outside your apartment, watching you. Of course, you knew Unknown and whatever organization he was with were probably keeping an eye on you, but the idea that someone might be waiting outside of your apartment… well, it had kept you from going outside for the last couple of days.

Jaehee continues to fret over Zen’s safety, when Seven’s reply suddenly catches you off guard.

 

You stare at your phone. Wait. What’s going on? Are you going to have to go to Zen’s house again? Oh dear. That had _not_ been the plan. Perhaps you haven’t been distancing yourself from Zen as much as you should have… but you can’t just be _mean_ to him… God.

You push away your bowl of kimchi, your appetite gone.

* * *

 

_Knock knock._

Seven bounces on his toes as he waits for their newest member to answer the door. He hears footsteps inside the apartment.

“W-who is it?” she asks. Her voice shakes and Seven wonders if news of the hacker has got her that freaked out. It’s good he called V and asked about relocating her, then – she’ll be safer with Zen and a bunch of security guards than she is at the apartment, especially if the hacker is trying to tamper with the special security system.

“It’s me, Luciel!” he says, hoping his cheery tone will put her at ease.

There’s a long silence, and based on the sounds from inside it seems like she’s on the other side of the door. “Can you…” She hesitates. “…step back from the door a bit? I need to be sure it’s really you.”

A little confused, Seven obliges. Of course, he could just type in the passcode for the door and open it himself, but she already seems a bit freaked out and he doesn’t want to worry her further.

He hears a sigh and the door opens. “I’m sorry. I just… I guess I’m a little anxious about all this hacker stuff,” she says. She admits him into the apartment and locks the door as soon as he’s inside.

It’s a bit strange seeing someone he’s only ever seen in photographs and CCTV footage in person. Seven sticks out a hand in greeting and grins. “Nice to meet you! Genius hacker 707, at your service~”

“Oh, um,” she shakes his hand awkwardly, “nice to meet you, too.” She looks around at the apartment. “Oh, God. Sorry. No one ever comes to the apartment except –” A curious expression crosses her face and she halts her words. “—except um, me I guess.”

Seven glances around as well. Clothes are strewn on the furniture and floor, along with papers and a couple of books. There’s a half-eaten bowl of kimchi sitting beside an Arabic dictionary and several heavy-duty textbooks. Is she studying Arabic? Seven smiles to himself. She follows his gaze and mumbles another apology as she cleans some of her things up.

“Don’t worry about it~” he says. “Actually I came to take you to Zen’s house. I talked to V about it, and he thinks it’ll be better if you’re somewhere we can protect with security guards.”

She freezes, holding onto the bowl of kimchi with her back to him. “You did? Oh, um, wouldn’t it be better if someone like Jaehee went? I mean, I don’t know Zen that well, so it might be weird to meet him suddenly.”

Why does she seem so reluctant to go? Doesn’t she want to meet the other members? “Jaehee seemed really busy, so it’d be kind of cruel to tell her to take care of Zen when she’s got so much work. And this way we can protect you with security guards instead of the special security system.”

She turns to face him. “About that, actually,” she says. “The ‘special security system’. Do you happen to know what’s in the drawers that’s so important?”

He doesn’t, as a matter of fact. “It’s probably better that we don’t know. I trust V and Rika’s decision to keep it here.”

She sets the bowl of kimchi down again and looks at the desk drawers, then at Seven. “But don’t you want to know? What if it explains why we have some crazy organization of religious freaks after us?”

“ _Que sera, sera_ ~” Seven says. “I trust V. No point in worrying about it any further.”

She sighs deeply. “ _I’m_ the one who’s living with this ‘security system’, though,” she says. “I feel like I have the right to know.”

Seven shrugs. Even if he wanted to tell her what was inside those drawers, he doesn’t know. “Shall we go, then? Do you need to bring anything?”

She looks around the house. “I’ll just… no, let’s go. I can buy something if I need it.”

That seems a little unusual, but Seven shrugs and puts a hand on the doorknob. “Wait!” she shouts suddenly. “Make sure no one’s outside the door, first.”

What on earth is she so worried about? He almost wishes he hadn’t mentioned the possible stalker to her the other day. Hopefully she’ll feel safer with Zen. He peers through the peephole, gives her the all-clear, and then leads her down to where he’s parked his car. It’s started to rain a little as night falls on the city.

She doesn’t talk during the drive, but seems to have a hard time staying still. She stares out the window at the raindrops and twists a ring she’s wearing on her right hand over and over, sometimes crossing and uncrossing her legs like she can’t find a comfortable position. Seven considers putting music on, but isn’t sure if it will comfort her or make her more anxious.

At last, he can’t stand the silence any longer. “Hey,” he says as they wait at a red light, looking over at her.  The engine hums quietly and the cab is filled with the patter of rain on the windshield. “Are you all right? I know what V said, but I don’t _have_ to take you to Zen’s house.”

She looks like a deer caught in headlights. She stops fidgeting with her ring and sits on her hands instead. “I’m fine,” she says in a single breath that sounds like she’s trying to laugh.

The light turns green, but there’s no one else at the intersection so Seven puts his car into park. He reaches over to touch her shoulder gently. She glances down at his hand but doesn’t shrug it off. “Is Rika’s work too stressful? You know, you can tell us if it is. I’d still like to keep an eye on you until the hacker business is taken care of, but you don’t have to stay in the organization if you don’t want to.”

“I _do_ want to stay, I just—” She shakes her head. “Really, Seven, it’s nothing. I’ll be safer with Zen, so thank you for coming to pick me up.” She inclines her chin towards the traffic lights. “We should keep driving. We’re almost there, right?”

Seven wishes he could maybe bring her to his house to stay, but… no, she’ll be safer with Zen. Zen will take good care of her. She seems like she really needs someone to be by her side right now. Seven has to focus his energy on solving the hacker problem first.

He removes his hand from her shoulder and flicks the windshield wipers to clear away the rain before continuing to drive. This time, instead of staring out the window she simply leans back against the headrest and closes her eyes, perhaps listening to the sound of the rain.

When they arrive at Zen’s building, Seven drops her off as close to the doors as he can manage so she doesn’t have to walk in the rain, then parks nearby and runs over to join her. She’s still standing outside under the extended lip of the roof by the entrance, with her hood up and jacket zipped to her chin. “You could have waited inside,” Seven says, opening the door and motioning for her to go in. She shrugs and steps into the building.

The building itself doesn’t have any security, but Seven notices several of Jumin’s security guards standing around. They should know who Seven is, so they don’t bother the two of them. They get to Zen’s basement apartment and Seven knocks on the door.

They wait a bit before Zen comes to the door, and he when he opens it he looks at the two of them in surprise. “Seven? What are you doing here at this hour?” he says. “And… who did you bring with you?”

Seven introduces their new member and Zen’s eyes light up. “Babe! You’re just as gorgeous as I imagined, haha~” He puts out a hand. “I’m Zen. It’s nice to meet you in person.”

She takes his hand and smiles. “Nice you meet you, too.”

Her smile makes Seven relax a little. Yes, she’ll be all right here. Seven explains V’s orders to Zen about how their new member would be staying with him for a bit until the hacker problem was solved.

“Anyways, take care!” Seven says. “I have to go back to work~”

“You’re leaving already?” Zen asks.

“Yup!” He looks at Zen and tilts his head slightly. “I don’t suppose you have an umbrella I could borrow before I go out? It’s raining pretty hard~”

Zen looks at Seven and squints his eyes a little. Seven hopes he understood. “Yeah, I do,” Zen says. “I’ll walk you out.” He looks back at their new member, still standing a little awkwardly in the middle of the room. “I’ll be right back,” he says to her. “The security guards are just outside, so you don’t have to worry. You can leave your shoes and jacket here.”

“Thanks,” she says, taking off her shoes. Seven nods to Zen and they leave.

“Did you… have something to say?” Zen asks once they’re outside, pausing under the shelter of the roof just as their new member had when she waited for Seven.

“Take care of her, okay?” Seven says.

“Huh?”

“I thought I was bringing her here to take care of _you_ , with your foot and all – but I think she just needs to feel safe right now.”

Zen frowns, but nods. “Thanks,” he says, then looks out into the rainy night. “Did you park far away?”

Seven shakes his head. “Don’t worry about me~ Sorry for making you walk all the way here with your foot like that. Jumin’s got lots of security guards around, so you two should be safe. Laterz!” He leaves Zen by the door, flipping up his hood to protect against the rain before jogging over to his baby car. When he drives past the building, he sees that Zen is still standing by the door, watching him pull away.

They’ll be fine… right?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No spoilers ^^ ~~There are two chatrooms in this part, which I've included in .gif form. In the event that you're having difficulty viewing them (they show up best on computers; sometimes the timing is odd on mobile), I've also included links to non-animated versions. I also have a video version which I will link, too -- it's the same as the .gif, but has background music + emoji sounds.~~ ~~  
> ~~
> 
> Here, too, I included rain SFX to set the mood, if you're so inclined~
> 
> ...I probably spent more time making the chatrooms than I did writing the fic, lolol, but I really like how they turn out ^^

 

You slip in the mud and thrust your hand against a tree to catch your balance, breathing hard. The bark scrapes at your hand and pieces of wood stick to your skin. Your hands are dirty anyway from crawling out the window, as are your knees and jacket.

 _The hell am I doing…?_ you ask yourself as you walk-run through the muddy park trail a couple of blocks from Zen’s building, half sliding down the slope. You’re not even sure where it leads, you just need to get away, god, anywhere but here…

Your next step skids forward in the mud, and before you can regain your footing your toe catches on a tree root and you hit the ground hard on your hands and knees. The rain falls relentlessly on your back, dripping off your shoulders and sides. Instead of getting up, you simply crawl off the trail to the shelter of a tree and curl up beside its trunk, hugging your knees to your chest.

_Please just let it reset, I don’t want to be here…_

You think you hear something over the sound of the rain – a twig snapping, or a footfall – but when you strain your ears to catch it again, all you can hear is the _splick_ of the rain hitting the dirt trail. _Please don’t let it be Zen or one of the security guards,_ you think. _I just want to disappear…_

What the hell had you been thinking, letting Seven take you to Zen’s house? You’d been selfish, that’s what. Stupid, greedy, and selfish. Zen’s not some boy toy you can call up on a whim and get affection from. He’s got his own hopes and dreams, his own life, his own _future._ Lonely or not, good intentions or not, it isn’t fair to give him the impression that there can be anything at all between the two of you.

It’s not good for you, either. This is like… a period of grieving – mourning the loss of a had-been romance. You’re just making it worse by trying to pretend to yourself that you can go back to the way things were.

Your ring feels like ice to the touch as you twist it around and around your finger. It’s getting hard to bend your fingers at all and you wonder if you’re developing a mild case of hypothermia. Your nose is getting runny too and you sniffle once, then sneeze.

“You’ll catch a cold outside in this storm, young lady~”

You flinch and snap your head to the source of the voice. A chill that has nothing to do with the weather snakes its way down your spine. He’s wearing a different jacket and his face is masked by the shadows, but there’s no mistaking him at this point – it’s Unknown.

Should you get up and run? Talk to him? Let him slap handcuffs on your wrists and induct you into whatever freaky religious organization Seven said he was from?

He takes a few steps closer and you shrink back against the tree. “Why did you come out here?” he asks.

“Why did you follow me?” you retort. You reach behind your back with your left hand, trying to find a rock, or a stick – something you can throw at him in the event that you need to run. Your fingers are so numb it’s hard to tell what you’re touching. There were also those self-defence courses you took, but he’ll have you at a disadvantage with the muddy terrain, plus he’s uphill from you.

He doesn’t answer your question right away, and the poor lighting makes it nearly impossible to read his expression. He gestures toward you with his chin. “You don’t… make sense,” he murmurs in a low voice that’s barely audible over the rain.

You laugh bitterly. “No, I’m sure I don’t,” you say, mostly to yourself.

Another step closer. Your hand closes on a tree root and you wonder if you can pull it free. A firm tug later and you nearly cut your palm with how fast it slides past the slick bark. No good.

“Wouldn’t you rather come with me?” Unknown asks you. He walks farther off the trail to stand under a different tree a few feet away, taking shelter from the rain like you are. His bleached hair sticks to his face and he seems ill-prepared for such weather, as his jacket lacks even a hood. The rain falls down his neck and under his collar, and he shivers.

You don’t want to see him like this. Like another person. He has to stay the scary villain, the fanatic religious freak – someone you can twist in your mind to be almost cartoonishly evil so that he can only exist in a storybook world, one where there’s poetic justice and the good guys have nothing to fear from the bad guys.

 _Wouldn’t you rather come with me?_ he’d asked. No, you’d rather not. “Why not just handcuff me and get it over with?” you ask.

“It’s much more fun if you come willingly.”

_Is it, now?_

You hear him sniffle and wonder if he’s as cold as you are. No, you don’t want to know. He wipes at his nose with his wrist and pushes his wet hair out of his eyes. His next words sound… drained. “It’s tiring playing cat and mouse with you.”

_Ha. As if he knows the half of it._

Neither of you speak for a long stretch of time. Why doesn’t he just come and kidnap you – get it over with? What is he waiting for? He clearly followed you here for some reason or another. You watch as he shakes the water off of his hands and crosses his arms, hunching his shoulders closer to his neck to protect against the weather. For a moment, you almost feel like—

You hear a voice shout your name somewhere in the distance. _Zen’s voice._ You’d recognize it anywhere. The two of you glance in the direction of the voice, then Unknown looks at you intently.

“Do you want to be found?” he asks.

No. Yes. God, you don’t know.

You start to stand up, wondering if you should run. Will Unknown still try to kidnap you, even with Zen so close?

Zen calls your name again and you make a decision. “I’m here!” you yell.

Unknown flinches at the volume of your voice. He turns, glances at you one more time, then disappears into the shadows in the opposite direction. You let out a sigh of relief. He’s gone. His footprints are already filling up with water.

Zen shouts for you again. “Where are you?”

“Over here!” you yell. You can hear someone else splashing through the muddy park trail.

It’s hard to see him in the poor lighting, but you’d know his silhouette anywhere. It’s Zen, panting and clutching an umbrella.

“Darling,” he says, walking over to you. His gait is awkward – oh, God, he came all the way here with his ankle like that. You’re a horrible, selfish person. “Hey. Are you all right? I brought you an umbrella.”

He stops a few feet away from you, like he’s afraid he’ll scare you off if he comes too close. Behind him you notice a security guard holding a flashlight. Did they all come out here to look for you? _Selfish, selfish._

You take the umbrella from him and push your wet hair out of your eyes, then sneeze again. The security guard behind Zen procures a damp blanket and Zen carefully wraps it around your shoulders, crouching slightly to bring his face to your level. You stare down at the ground, hoping your tears pass as raindrops.

“It’s all right,” Zen says in a quiet, calm voice that’s barely audible over the plink of the rain on your umbrella. “You’re okay. Can you walk? We should go back inside.”

* * *

 

 

You turn off your phone’s screen and curl up under the covers of Zen’s bed after reading through the past conversations. They’re all so worried about you, and you don’t deserve it. You’re just a stupid, selfish girl who can’t accept her situation and drags down the people around her in the process. So self-centered.

There’s a security guard camped outside the window of Zen’s bedroom, and you’re pretty sure Zen has taken up a station by the door. He brought you tea and a box of tissues and some extra blankets before tucking you in.

S _tupid, stupid._ You’re making everyone around you suffer, too.

You close your eyes against the threatening tears and fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some spoilers for Days 6 and 8 of Jaehee's Route.

The sixth day. 11:52pm.

You check your watch again. Reconfirm that the door is locked. The cabinet is pushed in front of the window Unknown smashed through back when Zen… well.

You wait. This will be the true test. Is it possible for the days to continue if you don’t go to Zen’s house?

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Jaehee messaged you a few hours ago to say she was headed to Zen’s place. Zen logged on around eleven and told you how nice it was to have her at his apartment with him.

_That was me, once, instead of Jaehee._

_Tick. Tock._

11:57pm. You drum your fingers across the keyboard of your ancient laptop. You should’ve gotten a new one for this loop, but honestly setting it up and transferring all the files is a pain. Earlier in the day Seven warned you once again about the possible stalker outside Rika’s apartment, and you’re not terribly keen on the idea of going outside until that’s solved.

_Unknown._ When you turn off the lights, you keep seeing him standing in front of you, shivering in the rain. You keep the lights on in the kitchen when you go to sleep now.

Your throat feels dry and you stand up, thinking you might get a glass of water, but then you look down at your watch. 11:59pm. You sit at the desk again. The second hand moves inexorably towards the twelve.

_Tick. Tock._

There’s no fanfare when the hands line up to mark midnight. Goosebumps appear along your arms and you shiver. If you’ve done something wrong, then any moment now… any moment now, it will reset.

_Tick. Tock._

The apartment is quiet. It’s… 12:01am on the seventh day. You’re still here. This means several things:

First, it seems you can send someone to Zen’s house in your place and the days will continue.

Second, the only way to send someone else is if you spend a considerable amount of effort distancing yourself from Zen. If you talk to him too much, or get too close, you end up at his house anyway.

Third, and possibly the most important: your relationship with Zen doesn’t appear to be tied to how the time loops operate. Get close to him, and the days continue on. Distance yourself from him, and the days continue on.

So this is it, then. Proof that you never really deserved to be happy with him. Everything points to it. Hell, maybe you’re actually supposed to set up Jaehee with Zen. Yoosung seems keen on the idea, for whatever reason.

Your eyes start to sting and you squeeze them shut. Goddammit, not now. You’ve had _years_ to get over this man. Time to pull yourself together.

You stand up and decide to get that glass of water after all. Maybe it’ll help you swallow around this stupid lump in your throat.

* * *

 

V. The name is like acid on his tongue.

Now what would a man like him be doing here? This is the first time he’s gotten the ‘privilege’ of speaking to V in a long, long time. Why is V confronting them directly? What’s making him so desperate to talk to the saviour now, of all times?

“What do you want me to do?” V’s mouth is set in a grim line. Disgusting.

“Give the members to me. Tell them they can live in paradise here.”

“I… can’t do that.”

“I knew you’d say that.” He picks a piece of dirt out from under his fingernail and flicks it away. “I’ve got another deal for you, then.” V is silent, waiting for his next proposal. “Bring me your party planner. And your hacker, too – I’ve been dying to destroy him.”

V’s face looks strained. “That’s… I can’t let you do that, either. Please. There has to be a peaceful way.”

“Ha! A peaceful way!” He can’t contain his glee at V’s naiveté. “You want to protect your stupid little redhead, sure. But what do you even know about the new member? Why protect her?”

“They’re all important to me. Please, this is all just a misunderstanding—”

“A misunderstanding!” He lets out a short, humourless laugh. “Yes, I can see how much _you’ve_ misunderstood the situation, V. You think you know all about that new girl because you got your hacker to look into her social media accounts and her past life. But the joke’s on you because she doesn’t make any _fucking_ sense!”

V pushes his eyebrows together and looks at him in confusion.

He continues. “Her accounts are lies! Made up! Have you even talked to her lately? There’s no way she’s the girl from her profiles. The RFA is full of idiots and liars, and _you’re_ so caught up in your web of secrets you can’t even see when someone right in front of you is beating you at your own game of lies.”

V hesitates, then opens his mouth to speak. “If you would just let me explain—”

“Shut up!” he yells. “I don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit. The life you have – you don’t deserve any of it. You want a peaceful resolution? Give everything up. Your wealth, your friends, your fame… everything. Disappear from this world.

“It might take the RFA a while to realize, but eventually they’ll see you for the two-faced filth you are. It’ll give them a taste of the despair and betrayal I felt.”

The pained expression is back on V’s face. “I need… time to do that,” he says.

Is he actually considering it? “Why? Planning to stage your own suicide this time? Ha!”

“You’ll get what you want. Just let RFA hold its final party in peace.”

He’ll have to discuss that with the saviour, first. Will it be worth it? Watching the RFA slowly crumble as their leader disappears, with only gossip and rumours remaining? “So that’s how it is?” he asks.

“I know what Mint Eye is up to,” V says. “If you’d just let me speak with—”

“You have so many secrets, V~” he interrupts. “Liars don’t deserve to meet with anyone here. I know how much you’re hiding from me. When are you going to be ready to tell the truth?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 9 and beginning of Day 10 on Jaehee's route.

You stare at the ceiling of Rika’s apartment, willing yourself to get some sleep. The lights are on in the kitchen, preventing the room from being consumed by darkness. It’s past midnight. Tomorrow is the day of the party.

It’s surprising that you’ve made it this far, frankly. You’ve barely been getting enough sleep, not only because you fall into the same restless dream night after night, but also because you’ve set your phone to go off every time someone logs into the chatroom. Of course, you have no way of knowing for sure, but you worry that not talking to the RFA members enough will cause a reset, too. That seems to be the reason behind your resets on the fifth day when you take your ‘breaks’ from the RFA.

Jaehee has visited Zen twice, now. The two of them are getting along very well. They even went out for coffee the other day. Zen calls you sometimes, too, but you always end up talking about Jaehee, complaining about Jumin, or talking about the party. He still calls you ‘babe’ and ‘princess’, but there’s no hidden meaning behind the terms – just Zen being friendly. He’s always kind to you.

Your phone buzzes beside you and bathes the room in blue light. Is someone online at this hour? Who?

It keeps buzzing and you realize you’re receiving a phone call. You roll over and press the screen to pick up.

“Hello? It’s me, Jaehee. I’m sorry. Were you asleep?”

You close your eyes and smile a little despite yourself, your phone pressed to your ear. “No, I couldn’t fall asleep. It’s nice to hear your voice, Jaehee.”

You hear her exhale on the other end of the phone. “I’m so glad. I… wanted to hear your voice, too,” she says.

You never knew there was this side to Jaehee. She sounds so calm and happy after resigning from her post as Jumin’s assistant. You never realized how much stress she was under… you suppose you were too caught up in talking to Zen in all the other loops.

“It’s so strange not having any work,” Jaehee continues. “My house is so quiet. I’m used to hearing the clicking of keyboards, the rustling of paper, having another empty mug of coffee by my side… but tonight is so different.

“Do you think I’m becoming more reckless person now that I’m not working under Mr. Han?”

You roll over onto your stomach and open your eyes, staring at your bed’s headboard. You trace a finger along the lines of the wood. “I think you deserve to be a little more reckless, Jaehee,” you say. “I’ve only ever known you to work. You should take some time to yourself; do things that you want to do.”

It’s almost as though you can hear her smiling on the other end of the phone. “Thank you for saying that,” she says. “You’re so kind – I’m glad I got to meet you.”

You pause in your tracing of the wood lines. “…Me too,” you say. “I’m sorry I never realized… how much you were going through until now.”

“Hmm?” She sounds a little confused. “You’ve been my biggest supporter this whole time. I never would have expected to find someone like you when you entered our chatroom for the first time…”

But you hadn’t always been like that. You pull at a loose thread on your pillow. “I’m really proud of you, Jaehee.”

She sighs happily. “You’re so good to me. I should let you know…” She pauses for a moment, like she’s gathering her thoughts. “…I really like you. A lot.”

The thread you were pulling at snaps and leaves behind a frayed hem on your pillowcase.

Jaehee continues, “I’m not sure what to call this feeling yet… but I’ve never felt so close to someone. I’m so lucky to have met you, and gotten to know you… I’m so grateful for all of your support and kind words to me through the chatroom and on the phone… you’re truly a wonderful person. I’m so glad that you chose me, and I’m thankful every day that I can exist in your world.”

There’s silence on the line for several moments, then Jaehee tentatively calls your name.

“I’m here,” you say, swallowing. “I… I’m grateful you exist in this world, too, Jaehee,” you say. “Whatever happens, I’ll never forget the strength you’ve shown me. You…” You hold your phone away from your mouth for a moment so she doesn’t hear you sniffle. “You really deserve all the happiness in the world,” you say.

“I’m hoping I can share that happiness with you,” Jaehee says, then lets out a little nervous laugh. “Thank you so much for listening to me. For seeing me as Jaehee Kang and not as Assistant Kang.” She’s quiet for another moment, and then she sighs. “I should let you get some sleep. I pray that you have sweet dreams.”

“Good night, Jaehee,” you whisper.

“Good night, my dear friend.”

The call ends and you let your phone fall onto the mattress.

_I’m thankful every day that I can exist in your world._

But what if… this world stops at the end of the eleventh day, too?

It’s like… you don’t deserve to exist in anyone’s world.

If these eleven days reset too, and you have to speak to Jaehee as though she’s a stranger as well… will you be able to do it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been writing a _lot_ of EP lately??? Um... it's a really good break between studying...  
>  Also, PSA to people like MC who worry about missing those 3am chatrooms: I promise you can miss a **lot** of chatrooms without getting a bad ending. I've managed to get a Good End on Zen's route despite having 45-60% chatroom completion each day. There are also several plot branch points you can get through without participating in any chatrooms at all. So, please get some sleep ^^;


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after Jaehee’s route but doesn’t actually spoil anything that happens after Day 9, so if you’ve played until then you’re good for spoilers :)

Free at last, Jaehee settles down on her couch with one of Zen’s DVDs and hits the play button. It’s wonderful lounging at home in comfortable clothing without impending projects to finish or deadlines to meet. The party today had been a huge success thanks in no small part to the efforts of their new member. She’d done so much for the organization despite joining a mere eleven days prior. No, not only for the organization – for Jaehee herself, too. She’d always been willing to listen when Jaehee was stressed or worried about her workload, and she’d been so supportive of her decision to leave Mr. Han’s employment.

It had been wonderful to meet her in person today. She was different in some ways than Jaehee had imagined – but she seemed a person of quiet strength. Jaehee got the impression that she had been through a lot of things in her past, and yet she still managed to put on a cheerful face for Jaehee whenever she needed it.

A musical number starts up and Jaehee is startled to realize that her show has already begun while she was off reminiscing. Gosh, it would be lovely to have her new friend here at the house with her, watching Zen’s musicals together. Perhaps now that they’ve met in person, she wouldn’t mind visiting Jaehee at her home… they could make coffee with Zen’s gift, watch his musicals together, and maybe go for a walk under the night sky…

Jaehee’s phone buzzes and she picks it up off the coffee table. Oh! Just who she was thinking about. She answers the call and puts the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Jaehee, it’s me.” Just hearing her voice makes Jaehee smile. “Um…” she seems hesitant. “Do you have time to meet up for coffee? I know it’s late, and I’m sure you’re exhausted after the party today—”

I’ll meet you whenever you like,” Jaehee interrupts, already stopping the DVD and standing up. “Where do you want to meet?”

“Well, I noticed that that donut – erm, coffee shop you went to with Zen stays open until two in the morning tonight. I can meet you there in about half an hour.”

Jaehee checks the time. “I will meet you there,” she says. “Be careful on your way.”

“I will. You too. …Thank you so much, Jaehee.”

The call ends and Jaehee puts the phone in her pocket before grabbing her jacket and shoes to head out.

* * *

 

She hasn’t explained why she wanted to meet at a café this late in the evening, but there’s no need for her to. Jaehee would meet up with her on the moon if she wanted to.

The two women drink their coffee quietly in their booth, watching the cars drive past on the street outside. After a long sip, her friend puts her mug down and looks at Jaehee. “I’m sorry for calling you so late,” she says. “I just… I mean.” She pauses and stirs her coffee once more as though she’s looking for the right words. “I was thinking about today and talking with you at the party, and about the things I’ve learned these past few days and I… I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t talk to you one more time before the day was over. Just… just in case.”

_Just in case of what…?_ Jaehee wonders. She reaches her hands out to her friend’s across the table. Her hands are cool and tremble a little, perhaps from the caffeine. She seems a bit surprised at the sudden touch, but then squeezes Jaehee’s fingers once. “I want to support you like you’ve been supporting me,” Jaehee says. “I hope you feel you can tell me about your concerns. Even if I can’t solve them… I think there’s a lot to be said for just having someone listen to your problems.”

She squeezes Jaehee’s hands again and looks down at her mug of coffee. “Yes, I… perhaps you’re right. If I can, I promise I’ll tell you tomorrow. I just… can’t right now. But thank you. Truly.” She pulls her hands from Jaehee’s and picks up her mug to take another sip. Jaehee does the same.

Perhaps it’s a side effect of all the caffeine, but Jaehee feels more awake than ever despite the hour. She points out some of the desserts on the menu to her friend and they discuss what sounds good and what doesn’t; what desserts they’d want on a menu for their own café; what drinks would be best paired with each item and the possibilities of selling them as a combination set. It’s so easy to lose track of time when talking to her.

The waitress delivers their second round of drinks – hot chocolate this time, so they can actually fall asleep – and Jaehee takes hers and gently blows on the liquid. Her friend takes a spoon and skims some of the whipped cream off the top to eat first.

It happens so suddenly. One moment she’s holding the spoonful of whipped cream to her mouth, and the next a glassy look passes over her eyes and her face goes pale as snow. She drops her mug into her lap and gasps as the hot liquid hits her skin. The mug bounces onto the floor and Jaehee feels some of the contents splash onto her shoes.

Jaehee immediately stands up, calling her friend’s name as she hurries to press napkins to her clothes to mop up the hot chocolate. “Are you all right? Can you hear me? Oh, God, we should call an ambulance.” She looks around at the near-empty café. At this hour, there’s hardly anyone around save for one barista behind the counter. “Excuse me!” Jaehee calls, her voice edged with panic. “My friend needs help! Please call an ambulance!”

Her friend seems to recover briefly from her dizzy spell and grabs Jaehee’s wrist. The back of her hand is red from the scalding liquid she spilled. Is she… crying? “I’m sorry,” she breathes, and Jaehee leans down to catch the rest of her words. “I had hoped—”

She doesn’t finish the sentence. Jaehee catches her shoulders as she slumps forward. A clock behind the counter tolls out the chimes to signal midnight.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Jaehee’s route; also mentions an event common to Seven, Yoosung, and Zen’s routes, so if you’ve played any one of those, you’re fine for spoilers ^^. If you've been reading the fic up to this point as well, you're also good for spoilers :)  
> 

He waits, but there’s no reply. Why not? She’s online, isn’t she? It says she logged in.

This… is unexpected.

There’s a crackling sound as he crushes the candy wrapper he’s holding. Why now? Why, after all the work he’d gone through to find her, is she refusing to talk to him _now?_

He tries a different tactic.

That sounds… dark. The profile he created of her doesn’t indicate that she’s on any kind of medication for depression or a similar condition. He supposes it’s possible she isn’t getting it treated, but even if that’s the case, there still ought to be some indication of that in her profile. He’d been… extremely thorough in creating it.

He can’t bring her here yet; it’s too early. She has to go to the RFA first. Talk to them. Convince them to hold another party. It’s all for nothing if she doesn’t even go to the apartment.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

Maybe if you keep your pillow over your head, you can pretend you don’t hear the buzzing. Pretend you’re somewhere far away where cell phones don’t work. A space station, maybe. You remember Seven mentioning wanting to go to one, once.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

_I don’t want to go to the goddamn apartment, Unknown._

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

Good morning, old apartment.

Good morning, spider that’s always in the corner of the room.

Good morning, dog that barks at exactly 10:04am.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

And… good morning, Unknown. _Hope you’re having a great time waiting for that first text._

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

You tap a button on your screen just to shut the phone up for a moment and continue to stare at the spider on the ceiling. Maybe it’s dead – it isn’t moving. Maybe it’s been there for ages and you just never had any reason to look at that corner until your thousandth reset or so.

If you’re not making any progress, maybe you might as well be dead to the world, too.

What’s so goddamn important about the apartment, anyway? Why is it so necessary that you go there? Sure, you can only run the RFA email features inside the apartment due to some sort of short-range connection that was set up inside. And there’s a bomb there, too – ahem – ‘special security system’. No one will tell you why it’s even necessary to have that.

All these resets later, and you’re still not sure what’s in those locked drawers. Seven won’t tell you – it’s also possible he really has no idea, you suppose – and V’s never around to ask. You’ve never even met the man. Not at the party with Zen, and not at the party with Jaehee. Apparently he was sick.

Your heart seems to constrict. God, you miss talking to Jaehee. You miss the easy friendship, how relaxed she sounded after she finally left her position as Jumin’s chief assistant. You miss her singsong voice as she proudly introduced herself to you as Jaehee Kang, not as Assistant Kang. You miss listening to her go on about the different coffee flavours and textures, you miss the excitement in her voice as she talks about Zen’s musicals, you miss how happy she sounded when she confided in you about her hopes and her fears.

You miss having a friend, even if it was only for eleven days.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

Eat shit, Unknown. He’s the one who starts this whole goddamn chain of events. Just a simple text message from an app you’d downloaded.

_Why is this even happening to me? What did I do?_

You know, Unknown has hacked the apartment’s security system a few times. Maybe you can learn how to turn it off, too, and then you can find out the oh-so-important information hidden away in the drawers.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

You pick up your phone and swipe to unlock it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No spoilers for this round :)  
> All right guys, remember way back when I mentioned I thought it would be neat to include a chapter entirely told through chatrooms?  
> Well the day has come, I have officially dedicated six hours of my life to creating this OTL  
>  _Psst I'm also a huge sucker for comments on how you think the chatroom edits look, or if you think there's anything I need to do to improve them lolol. I'm open to editing my template so I can make them better!_


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for that one event that’s common to Seven, Zen, and Yoosung’s routes. If you’ve played any of their routes (or read the previous chapters lol), you’ll be fine for spoilers :)

You hold a button on your phone to power it off. You’re jumpy enough as it is – better shut it down to be safe.

Of course, you hadn’t _really_ expected V to tell you what was hidden in Rika’s apartment. You aren’t even sure what you’re expecting to find, yourself. Of the two ways to find out, brute force is the quickest. If even Unknown has trouble hacking into Seven’s security system, you aren’t sure what kind of chance you have. At least, not without first spending another series of loops learning how to hack.

Okay. Breathe in… and out. A newly-purchased hammer and screwdriver sit on the desk. It probably isn’t going to be pretty no matter what you do. You’ve already given the desk the once-over and discovered some small wires from the bottom of one of the drawers that disappeared into the wall. Cutting those wires seems like the obvious solution, but it also seems like the option most likely to get you killed. Seven wouldn’t have made it _that_ easy.

The lock on the front of the drawer is crudely welded together so that even if you _did_ have the key, it wouldn’t fit. After doing some research, you’ve concluded that the first thing you’ll try is forcing the screwdriver through the small dent that’s left of the lock to try to brute-force it. Tugging at the handle does nothing – the drawer simply rattles a little.

You roll your shoulders and pick up your tools. Your mouth is dry as you try to swallow. A couple more deep breaths and you position the screwdriver at the lock. Wait. Should you be standing while you do this? Sitting? Is there a best angle to hit the screwdriver in?

Sitting, definitely. Your hands are shaking too much. You sit on the floor and rest your elbow on your knee to steady your hand.

You swing the hammer towards the screwdriver and… completely miss hammering it into the keyhole. The screwdriver bounces off the metal of the drawer instead and makes a small dent. You lower the tools and laugh shakily to yourself. Well, you’re anything but a locksmith. Round two.

Several more tries, and you manage to wedge the screwdriver tip oh-so-slightly into the keyhole. Okay. Time to try hitting it in a little harder. You pull back the hammer and position yourself to try again.

_Thud—_

* * *

 

_BEEP beep BEEP beep BEEP—_

A cacophony of error messages blare from Seven’s speakers and cover his screens. _What…?_

_CCTV CAMERA #3FT8ZZ52 IS OFFLINE._

_CCTV CAMERA #5GY4LK33 IS OFFLINE._

_CCTV CAMERA #5Y3WT57 IS OFFLINE._

The messages continue, and Seven switches to another program to check which feeds are down. There’s a grid of them – all black with error messages.

They’re the CCTV cameras from Rika’s apartment.

No, no, no. This can’t be. He’d strengthened the special security system, looked into the hacker that led their new member to the apartment, kept an eye on the apartment’s surroundings to make sure she was safe…

Was it not enough? Did he mess up? Is the hacker back, disconnecting Seven’s CCTV cameras so he can finish what he started when he brought her to the apartment?

He switches programs again, this time to check on the special security system.

_15:42:14 special security system activated. Self-destruct sequence executed._

The Honey Buddha Chips and Dr. Pepper he ate for lunch churn in his stomach. No. This can’t… V and Rika promised… No one was supposed to get hurt…

His hands are shaking as he combs through the code, looking for evidence of hacking. He’d gone through this just two days ago, rewriting parts to make it harder to hack. There’s no way that ‘Unknown’ can be this good… right?

Nothing. There’s nothing here that suggests the program has been messed with or accessed by anyone other than Seven himself.

Then why…?

* * *

 

The pale boy sighs loudly and tips his chair back on two legs, his bleached hair falling into his eyes. He almost loses his balance for a second before he leans forward and slams his hands back on the keyboard to type in another command. Goddammit, the RFA’s hacker is good. It’s unbelievable that it takes him this long to set up a program to hack into that special security system, even after all the practice he’s had. He’s agonized over every one of the hacker’s patterns for so long that he sees code in his sleep.

The on-screen cursor flashes, waiting for him to type his next command. He drums his fingers across the keys, thinking. One of the letters has something sticky on it, and there are crumbs from his lunch settling in some of the cracks. He should probably clean it up, but can’t bring himself to care.

Suddenly, there’s an error message and his program crashes. _What?_ He looks up at the other monitors. One of them is completely blank. _Shit._ The security footage. Did the other hacker cut off his access? He’d been so careful to not leave any traces; he was sure of it…

He pulls up another program and types in the coordinates of the apartment to bring up satellite footage. For a moment, he thinks he must have typed in the wrong coordinates, but no – that isn’t… the apartment?

 _No._ Did he do this himself? By trying to hack the special security system? No, no, no. All his progress. Gone. This can’t be happening.

The video feed quality isn’t great, and there’s so much dust and rubble everywhere. Somewhere in that rubble is _her_ body. Goddammit. Where had he gone wrong?

His head feels fuzzy and his stomach churns. He puts his face in his hands and waits for the feeling to pass.

_…Why had this happened?_


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for that one event that’s common to Seven, Zen, and Yoosung’s routes. If you’ve played any of their routes or read the previous chapters, you’ll be fine for spoilers :)

You hit the handle of the screwdriver once more with the hammer and hear a distinct ‘clink’ sound. Wait, did that do it? No, it can’t have. It’s hardly even in the keyhole—

_Beep…Beep…_

You jiggle the drawer handle, but nothing.

_Beep…Beep…_

What’s the beeping from? Was V really telling the truth when he said it was just an alarm?

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

_Oh, shit._

You drop everything and scramble for the door, not bothering to close it behind you as you burst into the hallway and sprint for the staircase.

_Beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeep—_

You’re thrown off your feet and tumble down a flight of stairs, slamming into the wall at the bottom hard enough to break bones. The lights in the staircase fail and something else smashes into your side, crushing your ribs and robbing you of breath. There’s a high-pitched ringing in your ears and you feel like they’re being ripped out of your head. Your body screams in agony and you can’t see or hear anything, all you know is God it _hurts_ , what—

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

You scream when you wake up, tears streaming down your cheeks as you bring your hands to your face, your sides, your legs – God, oh thank God, you’re all in one piece. You choke on your own sobs and sputter and cough, struggling to draw oxygen into your lungs. _You’re alright, you’re alright, you’re alright, you’re alright…_

You start counting backwards from one thousand, trying to steady your breathing. Every time you can’t hold back another sob you start counting from one thousand again.

How much time is passing? An hour? Two? You lie on the bed with your face buried in your pillow, eyes stinging but breathing in more even, controlled breaths.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

Unknown never waits, does he?

God, your hands are shaking so much.

 

You’re so slow, typing and retyping your responses until they’re legible. Just get to the apartment. Then you can take a break. Just get him to give you the address. That’s all.

* * *

 

_Tick. Tock._

You stare at the ceiling of Rika’s apartment. It’s just past midnight. There’s a pressure behind your eyes that begs you to close them and just _sleep,_ but you can’t. Not after yesterday.

_Ping._

That’ll be Jaehee at 12:38am, complaining about being left with Elizabeth 3rd. For a moment when you got here you’d considered participating in the conversations again, but realistically you don’t think you can manage it. Even looking at that drawer makes you feel sick.

You grab your phone from the floor and hold a button to turn it off. The screen lights up for a moment and it prompts you to power it down. Behind the prompt, you notice the time.

12:32am.

Wait.

You sit up on your bed and hit cancel before taking another look at the notifications.

_12:30am – 707 is now online._

_12:30am – Yoosung_ _★ is now online._

You’re not misremembering. You’ve seen the 12:38am chatroom with Jaehee hundreds of times. Seven and Yoosung do not log in at 12:30am on the second day.

No, no, you don’t want to think about this right now. Why now? Can’t you just take a break from the RFA? Why do things have to change _now?_

The screen darkens, but you turn it back on and unlock your phone with a sigh, logging into the RFA chatroom. Seven and Yoosung greet you before continuing their conversation. Seven laments about not being able to get any sleep because he’s staying up researching the hacker. He’s looked into the hacker before – that’s nothing new. What’s new is this conversation right now. Why isn’t Jaehee logging in? Why are Seven and Yoosung here, instead?

You set your phone down in your lap and lean back against the headboard to collect your thoughts.

You haven’t done anything different since coming here. Hell, you’d ignored everyone on the first day just like you always did when you wanted to take a ‘break’ from the RFA. Everyone still logged in at the same times as usual and had the same conversations. You’ve gotten into a habit of scrolling through past conversations at the end of the day to make sure you haven’t missed anything, and everything had been the same as always.

Was it… because of what happened before the last reset? Surely that hadn’t been the key to getting out of the time loops, if you’re even out of them. Not like there’s any way to be sure unless you get to a Day 12. It wasn’t even the first time the bomb had gone off, just the first time it hadn’t been… instant. Ugh. You cringe at the memory and realize your hands have gotten clammy. You wipe your palms on your pajama pants and cross your arms.

Looking down at your phone again, you realize Yoosung and Seven have logged out of the chatroom after musing that you must have fallen asleep due to your lack of replies. Oops.

You set your phone to notify you during the night if anyone else logs into the chatroom. It’s probably stupid to think that this is actually the end of the time loops. Right? Stupid. Just another slight variance like when you talked to Jaehee more instead of Zen.

When you lay back down against your pillow your heart is pounding hard enough you feel its pulse in your ears. You twist your ring around your finger and stare at the ceiling. This is nothing, you tell yourself. You’ll get to the day of the party and the next day you’ll either wake up in your old apartment like you always do or you won’t. There’s nothing to overthink unless you actually get to the twelfth day.

And yet, you still can’t fall asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the usual Seven/Yoosung/Zen common event. Aka if you've been reading up until this point, you're fine :)

You glance up at the security camera above the door to the apartment as you shift your grocery bags to one hand so you can type in the passcode. Briefly you wonder if you ever make eye contact with Seven when you look at the cameras. Well, you doubt he’s keeping an eye on them 24/7. Maybe he just has it set up to notify him if a stranger comes by or something. The only stranger you can think of doesn’t seem to have any trouble hacking the security feeds, though… _Ugh._

There’s a click as the door unlocks and you nudge it open with your hip, using your foot to shut it behind you as you enter the apartment. You flick the lights on and give the desk a wide berth on your way to the kitchen to set your groceries down on the counter. You didn’t buy much – there’s hardly any point in stockpiling ingredients for later – but you _do_ have a few vegetables, snacks, and other foods now. At the very least, you never have to worry about something going bad before you get the chance to use it.

Somewhere deep in your purse, your phone rings. You set down the milk you were about to put in the fridge and dig around in your bag until you find it, barely glancing at the caller ID before swiping to answer. “Hello?”

“It’s me.” His deep voice is instantly recognizable.

“Jumin? What’s up? It’s getting late.”

“I know,” he says, and sighs. “I needed something to distract myself.” You open the fridge and unload some of your ingredients onto its shelves. “I suppose I should ask how you are,” he continues. “Have you eaten?”

“I just got back from a late-night grocery run, actually,” you explain as you crumple up an empty grocery bag and toss it in the corner of the room. “I kind of ran out of ingredients earlier—” Read: you’d brought nothing to Rika’s apartment with you and got takeout for the last two days out of sheer laziness, “—so I’ll probably just fry myself an egg or something before I get ready for bed.”

“An egg?” Jumin asks. “That doesn’t sound like a balanced meal. Perhaps you should hire a nutritionist. I can have Assistant Kang recommend you someone.”

You wave your hand as if to dismiss the suggestion before you realize he can’t see you. “I’m fine, Jumin. It’s just late. Maybe I’ll make it into omurice or something,” you say, but you’re already cracking an egg one-handed into the frying pan. It starts to sizzle and you increase the volume of your phone a little to compensate for the extra noise. “But what’s really on your mind? I expect you didn’t call just to lecture me on my food choices.”

He’s quiet for a while and you consider turning up the volume more before his voice is back in your ear. “V was in the chatroom a little while ago,” he says. Oh. That must have been when you were at the store. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to him properly.”

“Did he set a date for the party yet?” you ask, shaking your frying pan.

“No, not yet. He mentioned that it will probably have to be held soon to keep the scale down.”

It’ll be on the eleventh day, then. No change there.

“I hope you don’t let the lack of a party date bother you,” Jumin continues. “V is doing his best, I’m sure.” He’s quiet for a moment. With a practiced flick of the wrist, you flip the egg in the frying pan. “I do wish he wouldn’t try to keep everything to himself, though.”

Damn, this is so weird. Jumin’s never been one to speak very plainly with you. Anytime you talk to him it always seems to be about cat projects or Elizabeth 3rd or his latest business trip or something. Though there _had_ been that text from him earlier today. You’d been logged in at the same time as Seven and Jumin, the latter of whom was having lunch with his father and his father’s latest girlfriend. Seven had been all over the chatroom as usual, but Jumin seemed almost… frustrated? And not just because of Seven’s antics. When you logged out, he sent you a text that read “Have you ever been in love?”, which was almost immediately followed by “I was only wondering what causes people to act so unreasonable when they have someone they’re in love with.”

The question itself seemed less important than what it said about Jumin’s view on romantic relationships. It had taken a lot of typing and re-typing to answer that one.

Perhaps that’s why he’s calling you now. You suppose that, out of all of the RFA members excluding V, you might seem like the best person for him to talk to. Not Zen, whom he never gets along with. Not Seven, who’s always joking around. Not Yoosung, who’s far too young and inexperienced. And not Jaehee, whom he’s always had a very cordial but distant business relationship with.

“How long have you known V?” you ask, turning the stovetop off and transferring your egg to a plate. You pause for a moment, wondering if eating while you’re on the phone will be rude, then shrug and grab a fork and knife.

“We grew up in the same neighbourhood,” Jumin explains. “We used to talk on the phone quite often, but I don’t get to speak with him much these days.”

You swallow a mouthful of food. “How long did he date Rika for?”

He’s quiet, and you wonder if you were too direct in your question. There’s a bit of static on the other end, perhaps from the movement of clothes or papers. “They were together for several years,” he says. “V was just starting to gain renown for his photography when they met.” He chuckles and you stop chewing for a moment in surprise. “I was quite determined not to like Rika when V introduced me to her, but she won me over, eventually.”

There’s a weird feeling in your chest when Jumin speaks about Rika. To be honest, even after all this time you know extremely little about her, other than the fact that you’re currently taking over her job and living in her apartment. Oh, and the minor detail that she seems to be the person who wanted a bomb installed in her apartment. But, well, she was probably an alright person in real life if you discounted that. After all, she _did_ spend much of her time organizing huge parties for charity. And if she got even _Jumin Han_ to warm up to her, then she must have really been something.

It’s quite possible that by finding out more about Rika, you might be able to figure out what’s hidden in those drawers. Clearly there is _something_ important about the contents, otherwise you wouldn’t be here having this conversation with Jumin because the days would have been like they always were, not weird and just a little bit different from what you’re used to. There are just small things that seem to be affecting the sequence of events – for example, Jumin not going on his business trip early in the week seems to have led to the lunch with his father instead.

“Did Rika ever tell you what she was keeping in the apartment? In those drawers I’m not supposed to open, I mean.”

“Hmm?” Jumin sounds taken aback. “You should ask V if you want to know more about that. If you’re uncomfortable living in Rika’s old apartment, I’m sure V and Luciel wouldn’t be against relocating you.”

Dammit. He didn’t outright tell you that he didn’t know, though. What you wouldn’t give to be able to _actually_ move apartments, though if that really was possible you expect it would only be after the party was held, and that would already be too late…

“What was Rika like?” you ask.

Jumin lets out a long breath and you hear a creaking noise as though he’s leaning back in his chair. “She was… a very talented person. She had a way of gathering people around her.” He pauses. “She could be very persistent if you didn’t share her opinion, and quite persuasive as well. She was kind to everyone she met.” Another long pause. “Rika deserved all the love V gave her.”

You’re quiet for a moment as you take in this information. You hadn’t realized just how highly Jumin thought of Rika.

Jumin clears his throat, interrupting the silence. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t be keeping you up this late. I have some things I need to prepare before tomorrow, as well.”

“I was staying up anyway,” you say hurriedly. “It was nice talking to you.”

“Yes. I hope you have good dreams. Good night.”

You set your phone down beside you. Hmm. This really isn’t like Jumin to call you about these sorts of things. He’s never talked about V or Rika to you, at least not at length like this. Perhaps this is supposed to mean something as well? That you should find out more about V and Rika? You’ve already been trying to figure out why the hell there’s a bomb in the goddamn apartment for months now, but maybe you’ve been going about it the wrong way.

You put your face in your hands. God, you don’t know anymore. You’ve been trying to talk to Zen and Jaehee as much as possible, since they’re your best chance at getting to the day of the party. It’s exhausting trying to keep track of when they log in, since it’s never what you’re used to. They don’t seem to be around quite as often as they were previously. Is the universe just trying to make this harder on you? Why can’t someone come out and tell you what to do? Why do you have to play this stupid game, a game where you have infinite lives but no instructions or tutorial, a game that you can’t quit even when you want to?

Your phone pings with a new notification and you see that Seven is now online. Should you log in to talk to him? Probably. Do you _want_ to log in and talk to him? Not particularly. You’re not sure you have the capacity to wrap your head around his bizarre jokes at the moment.

You press your fingers to your temples and squeeze your eyes shut. Maybe you can ignore him, just this once. In fact, maybe you can just shut your phone off for the night and try to actually sleep. Your sleeping patterns are atrocious. Even when you feel like you’re dead on your feet, you always lay in your bed for hours without catching a wink of sleep. Then invariably someone will log into the chatroom at an ungodly hour, and you’ll squint blearily at the blinding light of your screen for a few minutes to talk to them. Your sleep deprivation has gotten so bad that you find yourself nodding off in the middle of all sorts of situations – while waiting for the bus, or in the shower, or even leaning against the kitchen counter trying to decide what to eat. Your eyes just drift shut and then you wake up mere seconds later in a panic, your heart thumping so loudly it echoes in your ears and it feels like you’re trying to swallow a stick of gum.

Perhaps the truth is that you’re afraid to fall asleep, sometimes. You had a dream about being back in the apartment, hammer and screwdriver in hand, trying to get into the locked drawer. You can remember the sound of the beeping so clearly, and running down the hallway, and then… and then…

You open your eyes and stare at your empty plate, feeling like the food might come back up. You shove your chair back forcefully and dump the dirty dishes in the sink, where they’ll be forgotten about unless you somehow run out of clean plates before the eleventh day. Even then you’re often lazy, sipping your soup from a mug rather than washing one of the bowls you’d used earlier in the week. You could make do with what was available.

You keep the kitchen light on when you leave the room and crawl into bed, finally shutting your phone off and plugging it in to charge beside you. At the very least, _something_ different is bound to happen whenever the days stop continuing this week. You just hope it ends with you actually getting to the twelfth day this time.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small spoilers for an event common to Yoosung, Seven, and Zen’s routes; based off the events in Deep Story Bad End. You're probably okay if you've read the fic up to this point :)

“What a coincidence, running into you here, V.” The pale boy’s mint eyes glint in the low light. He cocks his head to the side. “And where would you be headed?”

The older man studies him. It must be hard trying to see at night with those sunglasses on, and with his eyes like that… hmph. “Who…” V says, seemingly undecided upon whether to move closer to identify the stranger or stay where he is.

“Don’t remember me? I suppose you wouldn’t. Everyone always forgets about me, don’t they?” He takes a few steps closer and raises an eyebrow at V’s car, parked off the road several metres away. “Going on a trip to the mountains?”

V’s mouth is set in a hard line, then realization dawns on his features as the boy steps closer to him. “Are you…” A name leaves V’s lips – _his_ name. The younger boy recoils at the word.

“Shut up,” he snaps. “I suppose you can see through that eye of yours after all.” He closes his fingers around an item in his jacket, pulling it out and holding it up for V to see. A gun. He points it almost lazily in V’s direction, the whiteness of his knuckles at odds with his casual stance.

“So sorry for my poor manners, but I don’t think I can just let you go, _V._ ” There’s a distinct _click_ as he removes the safety. “Not after all the work I’ve put into my… _surprise_ for the RFA.”

V says the boy’s name again in a pleading tone and he scowls. “There’s been a misunderstanding,” V says, raising his hands in surrender. “If you would just let me explain—”

“ _I said shut up!”_ He uses his other hand to steady the gun. “Give me your phone. There’s someone I’d like to talk to.”

* * *

 

You throw your book onto the floor with an angry sigh and flop back onto the mattress. Goddammit. Is there nothing that will help you sleep? Maybe you should buy sleeping pills to just knock yourself out for a few hours. Anything would be better than this.

_Brrrrring brrrrring._

The sound is distant – ah, yes, you’d left your phone in the kitchen. Who in the hell is calling you at this hour, anyway? You pull the pillow over your face and ignore it.

_Brrrrring brrrrring._

_Again?_

Okay, so maybe it’s important. After all, they _did_ call you twice. You chuck your pillow on the floor too and storm over to the kitchen. This had better be _really_ important.

It’s Seven. With another long sigh, you click to answer the call.

“Hello? Hello?” Seven’s voice is loud in your ear. “Oh, thank God you picked up,” he says.

“Is something wro—”

“Listen,” he says hurriedly. “You need to get out of there. Leave the apartment now and stay somewhere as far away as you can.”

You straighten your posture and glance at the window, the one Unknown sometimes breaks through. “Seven, what’s going on?”

“There’s a bomb,” he says in a rush, the words almost blending together. “If you don’t get out of there it will detonate. I just got a phone call from…  a-and V is… gahhh! I’m sorry, I don’t have time to explain everything! You have to get out of there!”

Your heart stops. Oh God no, not the bomb. Your throat starts to close up and it’s suddenly hard to swallow. You grip the phone until your knuckles turn white, trying not to drop it despite the shaking of your hands.

“Hey, are you there? Hello? Say something!”

“I-I…” you choke out, and your voice sounds foreign to your own ears. “What’s going on?”

Seven’s voice comes to you as if through a tunnel. “I’m so sorry I didn’t realize how dangerous things were until now,” he says. “I have to go save V. Something’s happened. Please tell me you’re on your way out of the apartment.”

Something finally gives and you find yourself moving back towards the bedroom, finding your jacket and shoes and shoving some of your things into your bag. Oh god. You’ve really messed up, haven’t you? V’s in danger and Seven’s telling you to get out of the apartment? What the hell happened?

“I’m so sorry,” Seven apologizes again as you shove your feet into your shoes and fumble with the handle of the door, then freeze. You almost forgot to check if Unknown was outside waiting for you. You hold your breath and press your face to the peephole.

Nothing. The hallway is empty.

“I’m going to tell Jumin to send security guards to the other members’ houses. We can send some to wherever you stay, too, until this is over.”

“So this is it…?” you ask, stepping into the hallway and checking to see both ends are clear.

“Yeah…” There’s some static on Seven’s end and you wonder if he’s gathering his things to save V. “I’m really sorry things didn’t work out. Thank you so much for trying to help us. You should just delete the app and forget about us once you’re out of there.” The static stops and the line is quiet for a moment. You drum your fingers against your leg as you wait for the elevator to arrive. “I’m glad we got to know you even for just a short time. I…I have to go now. Take care of yourself.”

He hangs up just as the elevator door opens. You peer inside and see that it’s empty, then hurry in and press the button to take you to ground level. _How on earth had you messed up this badly…?_

* * *

 

_Goddammit._

She’s not here. He kicks at a book she left on the floor and sends it flying across the room, then curses at the pain in his toes from where he hit the book. The lights are still on in the kitchen. God, the apartment’s messy. She’s got books and dishes and clothes all over the place. Maybe she just doesn’t care…?

He rummages through some of the things by the bed and on the kitchen counter, wondering if there’s some sort of clue as to where she’s gone. Nothing. _Goddammit._ Maybe he’d been too cocky when phoning the hacker. Everything’s gone to shit, anyway. The only saving grace would be handing the traitor V over to the saviour. He’ll have to deal with the consequences of letting the party planner escape soon enough.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the usual Seven/Yoosung/Zen thing. Aka you're probably fine XD

You stir the last drops of your coffee around the bottom of your mug, your spoon clanging loudly against the ceramic. Perhaps if you don’t finish your drink, they won’t tell you to leave when the café closes… which is in ten minutes. You put your face in your hands, peering out from between your fingers at the table. There’s some sugar left on the wooden surface from where you’d spilled it before adding it to your coffee. The granules quiver slightly whenever you jostle the table, which is a lot because one of its legs is shorter than the others.

“Miss?” It’s the young man behind the counter. “We’ll be closing in a few minutes.”

You grab hold of the handle of your mug again. “Yes, thank you,” you say, not really looking at him. You’re the only person left in here – why wouldn’t you be, at this hour? Who, besides you, would be hiding out in a café alone in the middle of the night? “I’ll be done in just a moment.”

He gives you an awkward sort of smile and nods, and you know you’re probably keeping him from finishing closing up and going home. Ugh… you’re just taking up space here. But where else is there to go? The subway station, maybe?

The subways have probably all stopped by this hour, anyway, but it would be somewhere to sit for a while – at least until you figure out somewhere to stay.  It isn’t as if there’s _no one_ you can contact, just that they’re all far away and it’s been so, so long since you’ve last spoken… at least for you.

And, sure, you could probably ask to stay with someone in the RFA, too. You’re certain Zen or Jaehee will let you stay with them until whatever danger has passed. And you could probably go back to your old apartment, too, except Unknown _definitely_ knows where that is and you don’t particularly want to take that chance, even if you _could_ get some of Jumin’s body guards to come with you.

So here you are instead, borrowing time from the poor café employee who has to stay here until you go home. With a sigh you sift through your wallet and leave a sizable tip on the table as a sort of apology for the trouble, then push back your chair and pick up your bag. The young man nods politely at you as you push open the door and tells you to have a nice night.

It must have rained a bit while you were at the café. There are puddles on the streets and the air feels damp. It’s colder than it usually is, too. You zip your jacket up tighter and pull your hood over your head, deciding you might walk to the subway station after all.

Your phone rings in your pocket and you stop walking for a moment to take it out. Who on earth would call you this late? Did Seven forget to tell you something? Is it another member, wondering if you’re alright?

_Incoming Call – V_

… _What?_

Why would… but V’s never… you’ve never even talked to him except through the messenger, so why…? You remember what Seven said. _‘I have to go save V’._ Is this some kind of ransom call? Is he alright?

In your alarm you almost forget to answer the call, but come to your senses just in time. “He-hello? V?”

“Don’t hang up.”

Your breath catches in your throat and you find yourself glancing around as if you’ll somehow find him hiding in the shadows. You know this voice. Too well. For one wild second, you almost wonder if he and V are the same person, since you’ve never actually met V, but… no, god, you’re being stupid. Unknown just has V’s phone, or he’s hacked it to make it seem like V called you. Does this mean that whatever organization Unknown is with has V? What does Unknown want, then? And why is he calling _you?_

“You’re not hanging up. Good.” His voice is ice in your veins. You start walking again, past all the closed shops; past the lampposts that seem to be spaced too far apart, spreading their safety zone of light too thin and too distant; past a huge empty lot that has shadows so big they could swallow you whole…

“Where’s V?” you ask, pressing your phone harder against your ear. “Why did you call me?”

“He’ll be seeing the saviour soon,” he says. There’s background noise – it sounds like… wind, or maybe the sound of someone moving. “You shouldn’t worry about him. He’ll only be getting what he deserves.”

“Don’t hurt him,” you say. True, you’ve never met V, and sometimes he seems to hide an endless amount of secrets from the RFA, but he’s not a bad person at heart.

Unknown laughs, a short ‘ha!’ that makes your heart constrict painfully in your chest. Oh god. What if this is actually the timeline where you get out of the loops and you’ve somehow doomed V to a life of… of these religious freaks and their so-called ‘saviour’? Or something worse?

“You really shouldn’t worry about him,” he continues. “Why do you care about someone who made you stay in an apartment with a bomb?”

“It’s not… that wasn’t… I mean _yes_ that’s true…” You trail off as you reach a street corner you don’t recognize. Shit. Where is this? Did you make a wrong turn? God, you’ve been so rattled by this phone call that you must have walked somewhere else. You just need to… go back a bit, find the street you know leads to the subway tunnel, or maybe find some sort of bar that you can sit in for a bit, anything that’s open…

The line is quiet except for… breathing? You can hear the puffs of air he exhales and it almost feels like he’s blowing directly into your ear. Why isn’t he talking? Is he waiting for you to say something else? All around you the streets are empty, yet it feels like he’s standing right next to you, shivering in the rain with that stupid jacket that doesn’t have a hood while you’re huddled up under a tree wishing you didn’t exist…

“I’d like to make you an offer.” His voice snaps you back to the streets in front of you, full of dim shopfronts and empty sidewalks. An… offer?

“For V?” you ask. Is he trying to ask you for ransom? Wouldn’t someone like Jumin or Seven be a better person to ask?

“No, for you. Aren’t you tired of this? All the lies, all the deceit. Everyone wearing a different mask to hide their filthy selves from the world. You know all this, don’t you? After all, you’re not the girl from your profiles.”

The girl… from your profiles? Does he mean your social media profiles? Maybe he’s talking about information he knows about the _past_ you. The ‘you’ before all of… _this._ It’s true, that person… has long been buried. You dug the grave yourself the day you realized you didn’t love Zen the same way anymore… that you _couldn’t_ love Zen the same way anymore.

“I’m not… _hiding_ anything, I’m just… a different person now,” you say.

Unknown clicks his tongue. “Ahhh… I see. Well, the offer still stands. Join us in paradise, where there’s true happiness. I promise you will be happy there.”

“Your promises mean nothing to me,” you say. “You’re always trying to hurt the RFA. Why would I trust you?”

“Is it me who’s hurting the RFA, or is it its leader, with all his lies and false promises? I’m not the one who planted a bomb where someone lives.”

“Shut up!” you exclaim suddenly, your voice echoing off the vacant buildings. You’ve slowed to a stop, standing under a street light by an ice cream shop storefront. The hand holding your phone is quivering as you press it to your ear. “I don’t… just stop talking!”

Where is all this anger coming from? Are you just mad at Unknown for tossing out insults at V, or is it because there’s a part of you that has to admit he’s right? V is definitely hiding things from the RFA, and it’s hurting all the members. And no amount of explaining is ever going to make that goddamn bomb alright.

The line is eerily quiet again, other than Unknown’s breathing. His breaths are softer now, and the sounds of movement from before are gone.

You should just… god, you should just hang up. Why are you still talking to him? He’s made it clear enough that you can’t change what happens to V. And the more you talk to him, the more likely it is that he’ll _do_ something, like… like…

_Like tracking your phone?_

You hold your phone away from your ear in horror. Oh, God. This was really, really stupid, wasn’t it? The whole time he’s been talking to you he could have been tracking your location, waiting for you to walk somewhere he could kidnap you.

On impulse, you hurl your phone across the street. There’s a thump and a sharp cracking sound as it hits the curb and falls into a puddle. This should… this should reset things, right? It won’t be immediate, but you know that breaking your phone on the first day always results in a reset.  It should be the same, here. You put a hand against the window of the ice cream shop to brace yourself.

Footsteps. They’re far away, but coming closer. You look around wildly, your heart fighting so hard to escape your ribcage that it feels like your whole body must be vibrating. _Please no, just reset already, please…_

At the end of the block, a figure steps into view. His shock of bleached hair is clearly visible even under his dark hood. He’s holding a phone to his ear and has a small device in his other hand. His eyes meet yours but he doesn’t move any closer. He just… stares.

The world tilts and your knees buckle. You lose sight of him as your vision darkens and you feel like you’re on a particularly nauseating roller coaster. But you’re safe now… right?


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of an odd chapter. It’s got “two” chatroom sections, both rather long, and they’re kind of combined into a montage.
> 
> Also woohoo, we’ve officially hit 30K words! (Though some 2.5K of that is chatroom edits so AO3 doesn’t agree with me on how long it is LOL). Hope you enjoy the chapter~

_Bzzt bzzt._

You breathe a sigh of relief as you open your eyes and find the familiar sight of your old apartment’s ceiling. So it did reset.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

Somehow the boy on the other side of the phone is the same person you just talked to mere moments ago on the phone. The same boy who stood in the rain with you and asked if you wouldn’t rather come with him to ‘paradise’. The same boy who broke through the window of the apartment and tried to take you hostage before Zen arrived to save you. The boy whose look of terror when you pressed down on the bomb trigger haunts your thoughts just before you fall asleep. 

These exchanges are robotic. He pretends to want to return a stranger’s lost phone, and you pretend you’re interested in helping him. The words you type are just means to an end. Get to the apartment. Join the RFA. Keep the days continuing.

Is he _really_ interested in convincing you to come to paradise? Or had he just been trying to keep you talking so he could track your location? And why didn’t he try to capture you after he found you? Why just stand and stare at you from the end of the street? It isn’t as though you looked in any state to resist if he decided to grab you.

Ugh, it’s so… so…. _vulnerable_ like this, not knowing what he’s going to do, worrying he might show up at Rika’s apartment in the middle of the night or something to take you to ‘paradise’. It’s like one moment you’re talking to everyone in the chatrooms, and the next he’s at your doorstep with no obvious indication as to _why_ he comes some days but doesn’t on others.

…What if you’re actually supposed to go with him to Mint Eye? What if that’s the key to escaping the loops? Or maybe you’re supposed to save V, or warn him away – prevent him from being captured by the ‘saviour’ and their underlings. What if going with Unknown really _is_ the way to get out of the loops, except you just end up trapped there in Mint Eye forever? An endless loop of the same eleven days _has_ to be better than that… and yet…

* * *

 

 

You throw your phone down onto the mattress. He won’t _listen_ to you! You let out a muffled cry of frustration into your pillow. What the hell are you supposed to do if he just gets captured anyway? Sure, you could try being more aggressive, but there’s almost no way he’ll take you seriously then. And there isn’t enough time to build up trust with him, even _if_ he actually logged into the chatroom more often. It’s not like you can ever get to know him for longer than eleven days at a time, or four days in this case…

Wait. There _is_ someone who’s known V for a long time, though. And V respects his opinion; you’re sure of it. You pick up your phone again and dial the number.

It rings once… twice… a third time… _click._

“It’s you. Why are you calling so late?”

“Jumin,” you say, your shoulders relaxing a bit. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“I’m usually working at this hour anyway. Is something wrong?”

“No! Or, well, yes… it’s V.” You grab a fistful of the sheets and then slowly release it.

“V…? Are you worried about the party again?”

“You didn’t read the messages? V was just online. The party date is set for a week from now.”

“A week?” He’s quiet for a moment. “…I suppose I trust him to know what he’s doing. If you’re worried about how soon it is, know that you can rely on us for help.”

“Yes, I know,” you say, laying on your side to stare at the wall. “That’s not why I called, though. He also said he was going on a trip.”

“V often goes on trips to take photographs,” Jumin says. He lets out a short breath. “I used to travel with him on occasion, but that was before…” _Before Rika passed away?_ _Before V started keeping all these secrets from the RFA?_

He doesn’t finish the sentence. “In any case, you shouldn’t worry. V will be fine, as will preparations for the party.”

He _won’t_ be fine, though. “I believe that _you_ believe he’ll be safe, Jumin, but I have a bad feeling about it. What if something bad happens here and he’s unreachable? Or if something happens to him while he’s abroad and he can’t return for the party?”

“Are you worried about the hacker attacking us again? I’m sure Luciel is doing everything he can to take care of it as we speak. Perhaps you should take a bath. I’m told it is good for calming nerves.”

You press your face into the pillow again and close your eyes. _No one understands how serious this is._ “Thanks,” you say, pulling back from the pillow to speak, “but I’m fine. I was just hoping… do you think you can ask V not to travel, at least until after the party? I’d feel so much better if he stayed.”

You hear a sort of tapping on the other end of the phone, as though he’s drumming his fingers across his desk, or perhaps tapping a pen against the wood. “I’ll see if I can get in touch,” he says. “But you should go to bed now. It’s late.”

Well, it’s better than nothing. At least you can say you tried. “Thanks, Jumin. I hope you get some sleep as well.”

“Thank you. Good night.” _Click._

_Please don’t do anything stupid, V…_


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler-free…kinda? Doesn’t spoil any events from the game, though I do mention a thing or two about the organization Unknown is with. I think you first learn about it in Yoosung’s route. …Frankly if you’ve read this far, I expect you’re fine for spoilers :P

_But how to get inside…?_

He can hack the security cameras – give them a dummy feed that just loops over the same empty hallway. But the RFA’s hacker is good; he’ll notice it rather quickly, and then he’ll call their new member to warn her or something. From his observations she seems to be a highly suspicious person, so it’s also unlikely that she’ll willingly unlock the door, even if he’s disguised as someone else.

The passcode to the apartment has changed, too. If he brings his laptop he can probably hack it, but there’s the matter of time, again – he’ll have to give the security cameras the dummy feed and time it so that the hacker doesn’t have time to warn their new member that something is up. He _might_ be able to distract the hacker if he lets him know about V’s current situation, but it’s a gamble he’s decided not to take.

_V._ He scoffs. The man is far too predictable. Did he really think he could get away with snooping around Mint Eye? Though… it’s possible V had been spying on them earlier too and he hadn’t noticed. That’s… an unsettling thought.

So that leaves… breaking in through the window. It’s his least favourite of the options, but if he plans it well and is quick enough, he’ll be able to break in and block her escape path to the door. In the meantime, he’s already begun preparations for the induction ceremony. Everything will be in place when he returns with her.

_If_ he returns with her.

No, he has to. The RFA won’t be having a party with their leader in Mint Eye’s hands, so now is the best time to absorb the members into Magenta as the saviour wishes. Then they can finally join the everlasting party.

All except for that redhead. He has something… _special_ planned for him.

* * *

 

Shit, that was much louder than he planned. The glass shards fall to the floor with a tremendous crash and crunch noisily under his boots as he swings over the windowsill and into the room. He hears a shriek and the sound of footsteps, and a pillow sails towards him from the other end of the room. He swats it away and races the girl to the doorway. _Damn_ she’s fast. He thought she was sleeping, but judging by her quick reaction, she must have been awake.

_Not fast enough, though_. His fingers close around her shoulder just a few feet from the door to the hallway and he yanks her backwards, almost causing her to lose her balance. _Almost._ She recovers surprisingly quickly and twists towards him, hooking her arm around the arm he has on her shoulder and locking it so he can’t break free.

_What the…?_ he thinks mere seconds before her fist comes towards his face. He barely manages to deflect the punch with his free hand but doesn’t have time to see her knee coming towards him until it collides with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to curl in on himself. She releases her hold on his arm and he falls to the floor on his hands and knees, coughing. _Where the hell did she learn to do_ that?

He picks himself up just in time to see her slip through the door to the apartment, leaving it swinging open behind her. He cusses long and loud, slamming his fist into the wall and then cursing louder at the pain in his knuckles. Shit. Goddammit. Shit. He won’t be able to grab her outside of the apartment without causing a huge fuss, and now there’s no time to grab all the documents protected by the special security system. The RFA’s hacker will have noticed her leaving and he’ll see that his special security system has been hacked soon enough.

He coughs again, still feeling a bit nauseous from the blow to his stomach. The plan failed. He’ll have to return to Mint Eye empty-handed and see what happens next. Dammit. How many more surprises does this girl have up her sleeves, anyway? How was he supposed to know she knew self-defence, or took some sort of martial arts class, or—

From somewhere out in the city, he hears the faraway blare of a siren through the broken window. It’s doubtful that she’s been able to call the authorities already but… he shakes his head and jogs out of the apartment, taking the steps two and three at a time as he rushes down the stairs. Get out first, then figure out how to clean up the mess he’s made of the situation. The mess _she’s_ made of the situation. Or perhaps it’s his own fault for choosing her to go to the apartment in the first place. He’ll have to take the blame when he returns to Mint Eye, anyway. If only he could get her to _listen_ , he wouldn’t have to break into the damn apartment…

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._

This is the _tenth freaking time_ you’ve gone through these past five days, only to be reset by the end of them. Or maybe it’s the eleventh; it gets harder to keep track after a while.

All you know is that V won’t listen, talking to Jaehee and Zen doesn’t seem to work anymore, and Unknown keeps showing up on the fifth day to take you to ‘paradise’. Sometimes you get a call from Seven to warn you to get out of the apartment, but sometimes you don’t. After the third narrowly escaped encounter, you’ve been making sure that you’re not at Rika’s apartment at all after midnight on the fifth day. For whatever reason, usually around 9am on the fifth day, you get reset regardless of where you are. The stress is eating away at your insides and you feel like your brain is going to explode from the frustration of being unable to proceed despite all your efforts. Maybe this loop isn’t meant to be broken out of. Maybe there’s just a horrible, horrible glitch somewhere in the universe that’s causing you to repeat the same days over… and over… and over…

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

Outside the apartment, a dog barks. 10:04am. Same thing, day after day.

This whole thing _has_ to have something to do with Rika and V. You just need to know more about them, and then maybe you can convince V to delay his trip for just a few more days.

That’s it, then. You’ll try talking to Jumin more. You’re skeptical of how much of his trust you can earn in just four days, but it’s the best chance you have of learning more about V and Rika. And besides, he’s seemed… different these past few loops. He’s usually very composed, but occasionally you catch glimpses of another side of him, like after the dinner he has with his father, or when he talks to V in the chatroom. It seems there’s much more to him than you’d originally thought.

_Bzzt bzzt. Bzzt bzzt._

You snatch your phone off the table and unlock it to log into the RFA chatroom.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 5 of Jumin's route~ :3c  
> Also, this chapter consists of a decently-lengthy chatroom portion and then some prose, so I've made the chatroom into a video (as usual).

 

* * *

 

 

You stir your coffee and prop your cheek up on your palm, staring absentmindedly at the book in front of you. Day 5. 8:56am. Your eyes feel like they’re sinking into their sockets from extreme sleep deprivation. Just another five minutes or so to see if the day resets.

There’s only one other person who’s been here as long as you have in this tiny 24-hour book café – a student, by the looks of it. She’s been pouring over an English language textbook since you got here around 11pm and looks ready to collapse from exhaustion. You keep thinking maybe you’ll go over to see if you can help her study, but then decide not to. It’s not like it’ll really matter if you help her or not if the day just resets anyway.

You realize you’ve been rereading the same paragraph over and over and still don’t know what it says. By virtue of this café being on the other side of the city, it’s got several books you haven’t read before. Mostly older books, with well-worn covers and dog-eared pages. They smell old, too. The whole café smells like cheap coffee and old books, but it’s got a nice atmosphere and the staff doesn’t bother you since the coffee is self-serve.

You look at your watch again. 9:00am. That’s nothing to get excited over quite yet – it doesn’t always reset at exactly 9 o’clock. But it’s enough to distract you from reading more of your book.

Your phone sits just a little while away with the battery on the table beside it. You don’t want to take any chances with Unknown tracking your location, but in the event that V actually doesn’t go on his trip or somehow you manage to get through the fifth day, you’ll need to have your phone with you.

9:02am. Okay. You fidget in your seat and stare down at the second hand on your watch. It keeps ticking, slowly passing the three… and then the six… and the nine…

9:03am.

9:04am.

9:08am.

It’s never reset _this_ late. What if you did something right? Is it too soon to turn on your phone? At least it’s morning now – you’ve never run into Unknown outside the apartment during the daytime, so it feels a bit safer. Besides, the café is starting to get more customers now – mostly college-age students looking to study for a while, you suppose. Unknown wouldn’t dare come to a place full of people like this… right?

Carefully you insert the battery back into your phone and wait for it to boot up.

9:15am.

If the day is going to reset, this is definitely the latest it’s been yet. But is it still too early to hope…?

There are messages in the RFA chatroom. There have never been messages before at this time. You open up the RFA app and log in. No one else is in the chatroom, so you scroll through the past conversations.

Almost an hour past midnight, Seven warns the members about being attacked by the hacker again and suggests Jumin send security guards to everyone’s house… except for yours, of course. Jaehee and Zen talk about it early in the morning, and around an hour ago Jumin and Yoosung discussed the hacker issue as well. Jumin also sent you a text message wondering if you were alright and that he hopes you don’t worry about the hacker issue, as Luciel will take care of it.

You stand up from the café table and drain the last few gulps of your lukewarm coffee, shaking your head a little at the bitterness. If the day isn’t resetting, then you’ll need to go back to the apartment to start organizing the party again. And… you should probably call Jumin to see if V is really alright.

You leave a sizable tip on the table when you leave and dial Jumin’s number as you step out into the street. It barely rings once and he picks up.

“Jumin Han speaking.”

You squint into the morning sunlight as you walk towards the bus stop that will take you back to Rika’s apartment. “Jumin, it’s me.”

“Oh.” He sounds a bit distracted. You can hear what might be the sound of traffic in the background of the call. “Is something going on?” he asks. “I suppose you read the messages from last night.”

“Yes, I did. I wanted to ask you, though – do you know if V is alright? Did you get in touch with him yesterday after I called you?”

“I did. He said that he would be sure to be cautious and appreciated the concern. He also assured me he would be back for the party.”

That’s good, at least. Perhaps V did indeed heed your warnings. “Thank you, Jumin.”

“I’m glad if I was able to help you.” He lets out a long breath. “Was there anything else you needed to discuss?”

“No…” You can’t put your finger on it, but Jumin doesn’t quite sound like himself. “You’re not… I mean, is everything okay with you?”

There’s a long pause, and for a moment you almost wonder if he’s hung up on you. Finally, his voice is back in your ear just as you get to the bus stop and lean against one of the glass walls. “There was a woman at my penthouse this morning with long purple hair. I don’t remember her face, but she wasn’t the maid. She said something about my father… hmm. I don’t really want to think about it. This is where Elizabeth 3rd is staying so I told the guards not to let anyone in before verifying their identity. I’m disappointed this happened. I should change my security team at this chance.”

…A woman with purple hair came to Jumin’s house? That’s never happened before. It’s hard to tell if this is significant or not, but anything new always merits some looking into. “You’ll let me know if it’s something important, right?” you ask.

“…It isn’t. But thank you for your concern.” There’s some noise on the other end of the line. “Ah. We’ve arrived at the office. I should end the call here.”

“Alright. Have a nice day, Jumin.”

“I can’t quite forget what I saw this morning so it’s a bit difficult, but thank you. I’ll call you again later.”

He hangs up just as the bus pulls up to the curb. You put your phone into your bag and find a seat at the back of the bus by the window to sit during the long ride back to Rika’s apartment.

God you’re so, so tired. What you wouldn’t give to just fall asleep on this bus for a while, or to go somewhere you know you’re safe so you’re not constantly worried about Unknown breaking into the damn apartment. You won’t be able to sleep when you get back, either. God, you hate everything about Rika’s stupid apartment. You hate walking past the desk every day, you hate looking out the window Unknown sometimes breaks through, you hate lying on the bed every night unable to fall asleep for more than twenty minutes because you’re terrified that there will be a time that Unknown comes by and you’re sleeping defenselessly. You hate that you know the routines of every person that walks past the apartment building because you’re always worried that one of them will be with Mint Eye. You hate that you feel compelled to double check the hallways and the elevator before you go anywhere because of that one time you were caught off guard and let a stranger into the apartment.

You realize your eyes are drifting closed again and startle awake, staring at the scratched plastic of the bus seat in front of you. You take a deep breath in… and release it. Well, you’ve gotten this far, haven’t you? Maybe warning V away from Mint Eye is all you have to do to get out of the loops. If you can just get to the twelfth day, all of this will be over.

… ** _If_ ** you can get to the twelfth day.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 7 of Jumin’s route.  
> Also just wanted to thank everyone who's been following me as I update this :) This week's update took a bit longer (characters weren't cooperating and I ended up rewriting the whole chapter... grr...), but you're all so patient and leave such lovely comments, so thank you. I'm really happy I can keep writing this for you ^^

Your fingers slip and the marker falls onto the page, leaving behind a purple splotch across the intricate lines of the mandala you’ve been colouring. Well, damn. You bring the paper closer to your face to inspect it, then pull back. You can maybe fix it with white-out, but… you put the sketchpad down with a sigh. Now there’s an ugly blot across your carefully planned design.

…You’re running out of things to do. Well, perhaps that’s a lie. It isn’t as though there’s an actual shortage of things to do, just that none of them seem appealing. Sitting in Rika’s apartment doing nothing is worse than doing something boring, though, so you’d gone to the internet again and discovered ‘mandalas’, geometric drawings with intricate patterns designed to take a long time to colour as a way of relieving stress.

You’re not really sure if you’re any less stressed out now than you were when you began, but at least colouring the small shapes means you’re not thinking about Unknown breaking into the apartment, or the bomb, or Unknown, or Mint Eye and their so-called ‘paradise’, or Unknown, or…

Now you’re thinking of him again. Why is he so set on taking you to ‘paradise’? Why does he just let you escape sometimes when you see him? What did he plan to do with V? Why is he attacking the RFA?

You twirl the marker around your fingers and suddenly realize that your phone is going off. Oh. It’s Jumin calling again. “Hello?”

“It’s me.” His voice rumbles in your ear. “How is your day going?”

“Um…” you say, caught a little off-guard. The question sounds curt and businesslike, like everything Jumin says, but you’re starting to become more familiar with the small nuances in his voice that he tries to hide from you. “My day is alright, I suppose. I spent some time working on a project of sorts so I guess I feel a bit better than I did before.”

He gives a small ‘hmm’ of acknowledgement. “I hope you enjoy your evening. Nothing seems to be going the way I want it to today so I wish I could just end the day here, but there are still things to do.”

“What happened?”

“It is a personal matter so I will not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that I’m not particularly happy with my father at the moment.” The words sound stiff, as though he’s saying them through gritted teeth.

“Sometimes it just helps to talk about your problems, too, though,” you say. You’re such a hypocrite, a little voice in your head chastises. You ignore the thought.

“I tend to find my own solutions,” he says. Own solutions like what? Talking to Elizabeth 3rd? There’s a pause and he adds in a quieter voice, “It’s not like me to call you… but I felt it would be nice to hear your voice at a time like this.”

“Well, I’m glad I can help. You can call me if you ever need someone to just listen to you.”

“I can’t say I understand why just having you listen will help, but the concept sounds agreeable. I will keep it in mind.” You shake your head a little at the formality in his tone. Sometimes Zen is right – Jumin really does sound like an old man. He continues, “Do you have friends you confide in?”

“Uhm…” Well, now he’ll get to see you for the hypocrite you are. “Not… really.”

“You’re like me then. I think it’s much better to have a friend who can tell what you’re thinking just by looking into your eyes than having hundreds of superficial friends.” He pauses. “I had two of those friends… but I can’t reach either of them at the moment.”

“…You miss Rika, don’t you?” It’s a bold statement, and you hope dearly that you haven’t overstepped your boundaries.

He sucks in a long breath, then lets it out slowly. “I do,” he says. “She left this world too soon.”

You pause again before you speak, feeling like you’re walking on eggshells. “What was she like the last time you saw her?”

“Bright. She was always a beacon of light. Just when I’d think I’d have some part of her figured out, she’d surprise me. There was a different side to her, though, after Sally died.”

“Sally?”

“Her pet dog. She went blind and got hit by a vehicle about two years ago. Rika wasn’t quite the same afterwards.”

Sally… hmm. You’ll have to ask more about Rika and Sally when you get the chance. “I’m sorry that happened,” you say.

“I understand how important animals can be to a person… I’m fortunate to have Elizabeth 3rd by my side.”

“I know how important Elizabeth is to you, Jumin… but you know you need people by your side, too, right? Someone to rely on when things are difficult.”

He’s quiet for a moment and you hope you haven’t insulted him. You know how fond he is of his cat. “I know,” he says after a while. He… knows? You hadn’t been expecting that. “Recently it occurred to me that people aren’t meant to live an isolated life on their own. The loneliness can get… unbearable.”

His voice changes a little at the last sentence and you feel as though some of the distance that’s always between the two of you has decreased a bit. “Jumin…” you say, not really sure what you want to tell him. “You don’t have to feel lonely. I’m here. The rest of the RFA is, too.”

“Thank you for saying that, but I don’t know if it’s so simple. When I’m talking with you, though, I feel…” He stops suddenly and clears his throat. “What am I saying? I can’t believe I’m talking about my worries. I’m sure you have better things to do as well.” He pauses. “…Talking with you makes me act strange. I should go. I hope the rest of your day is pleasant.”

He hangs up before you finish telling him goodbye. What’s up with him? Does he not trust you enough yet? Were you too pushy in asking about Rika? You hope you haven’t offended him somehow.

Your phone buzzes again and for a second you wonder if it’s Jumin calling you back, but no, it’s Jaehee this time. With a frown, you raise the phone to your ear once again. “Jaehee?”

“Oh, good, you picked up. I tried calling you a while ago but the line was busy.” She sounds a bit flustered.

“Sorry; I was talking to Jumin. Is something wrong?”

“You were speaking with Mr. Han? Oh. That makes what I’m about to suggest a little easier then.” She pauses and you can picture her sitting in her office chair, swivelling from side to side. “Mm… I know this is a bit sudden, but would you be willing to visit Mr. Han?”

“Visit… you mean in person? When?” She wants you to go see Jumin?

“As soon as possible, if you can. I… can’t explain the details, but Mr. Han is having a very difficult time with the current events, so much so that he cannot even work. I went to visit him at his house and he told me something about these tangled threads in his mind and to be honest, I didn’t really understand what he meant. You’ve been talking with him a lot lately and I thought you might be able to understand him better.” She’s speaking so quickly you almost miss a few of the words.

“So you think me visiting him… will help?”

“Well…” She hesitates. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him so vulnerable. I’m not really sure what to do. The office will be a nightmare if he doesn’t return soon, especially with all these rumours going around. Already my phone is ringing constantly with reporters and other staff members and journalists…” She sighs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to burden you with my problems. I’m sure you have a lot of things to worry about yourself with the hacker issue and everything… I’m so sorry to ask this of you.”

…Should you go to Jumin’s house? It might feel strange since he’s only known you for a week. But… you also feel you understand and get along with him much better than you had before. You might be able to get him to talk more about Rika and V, too. Maybe visiting him in person will make him comfortable enough to open up to you.

“Is it alright for me to go if the hacker hasn’t been caught yet?” Seven had told you to stay inside these last few days, much to your dismay.

“I spoke with Luciel about it and he says that it won’t be a problem. Mr. Han has plenty of security at his home as well, so you will most certainly be safe there.”

Your eyes flick up to the desk on the other side of the room, then to the window Unknown always breaks in through. “I’ll go,” you say.

“You will? Oh, thank God. Thank you for being so understanding.” Jaehee sounds like a weight has been taken off her shoulders and you wish you could do more to help her. She gives you some instructions on how to get to the C&R building and what to tell the receptionist so that you get to Jumin’s house safely. She thanks you profusely again before she hangs up.

You stare down at the phone in your hand, now a bit warm from all the phone calls. Visiting Jumin, huh… Well, the days are still passing so far. You hope this is the right thing to do.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 7 of Jumin’s route.
> 
> Exam season is slowly killing me, but I promise I’ll make sure I have a chapter each week at least :P Thanks so much for your patience! Also thank you to [Masdevallia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masdevallia/pseuds/Masdevallia) on AO3 for Beta-ing this for me :)

You’d thought, what with the extensive security protecting this place and the dozens of guards patrolling the building, that you’d feel safe enough to fall asleep easily at Jumin’s house. Though staying the night hadn’t been the original plan, it was a welcome change not having to return to Rika’s apartment and to all the memories you had associated with it.

But truthfully, it’s beyond strange staying here. The blankets and pillows are wonderfully fluffy and smell faintly of lavender, the sheets are warm and cozy, you can hardly hear any noise from the traffic far down in the city below, but still… something feels off. Maybe it’s the knowledge that Jumin is just a room away, going through his infinite pile of papers for the company, and that you’re currently lying on _his_ bed instead of your own or even a guest bed. He’d been rather insistent on it, saying his bed was of better quality than the guest bed and he wanted you to get a good night’s sleep. For a wild moment you wondered if he was suggesting the two of you sleep together in his bed, but then he said he would stay up to finish some work. You can sometimes hear the rustle of papers from somewhere outside the bedroom.

_Brrrrring brrrrring._

…Why would anyone call you at this hour? You sit up and go to reach for your phone on the nightstand, only to realize it’s a lot farther away because the bed is much wider than you’re used to. You awkwardly lean over to grab it and check the caller ID before swiping to answer.

“Zen? What are you doing u—”

“Babe! I’m so glad you picked up. Where are you? Are you okay?” His words are a blur.

“…I’m sorry?”

You hear Zen let out a short breath, and his next questions are a bit slower. “Did you go home yet? Are you safe?”

“No, I’m still here.” You hear Zen say _‘What!?’_ on the other end but continue talking over him, “Zen, it’s all right. Jumin’s been perfectly polite about having me here so there’s really nothing to worry about. It’s actually nice to get out of Rika’s apartment once in a while.”

Zen lets out another long breath like he’s trying to calm himself down. “Darling,” he says, “you might think he’s really polite and nice but _all_ men are wolves. I know Mr. Trust Fund Kid seems like a robot, but he’s a guy, too! You can’t let your guard down around him, okay?”

 _‘All men are wolves’… including yourself, as you’ve told me._ You shake your head. “I’m fine, Zen. Really. Jumin’s doing paperwork or something in the other room. And you know Elizabeth 3rd is the only woman for Jumin.”

You can hear Zen drumming his fingers against something. “Ugh… you say that, but he’s been acting really weird lately. What if he mixes up his furball with you, or suddenly realizes he’s got a beautiful woman in his apartment and – a…a-CHOO!” He sniffles. “Gah… I hate talking about his stupid cat. _But!_ ” He puts extra emphasis on the word, and you can imagine him slamming his fist on the table to underline his point. “You have to be careful! Especially when you’re alone with that guy at night! Don’t let him anywhere near your room, okay?”

You rub at your eye with your free hand. “Look, I pinky swear I’m really fine here…” you say, but he’s not listening. You can hear him murmuring things to himself.

“…Perhaps you could push the bed up against the door…”

“Zen.”

“…no, it’s probably too heavy, but maybe if there’s a chair or something…”

“ _Zen._ ”

“…locking the door probably doesn’t matter because he’ll have a key…”

“ _ZEN!_ ” Shit, that was really loud. You glance at the door, wondering if Jumin heard you. Technically you ought to have been sleeping as of an hour ago.

“Mm?” He doesn’t even sound fazed that you interrupted his line of thought.

“Please, you really don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. Besides, Jumin isn’t in a state to think about things like that. If you saw him now you’d know what I mean; he seems kind of… fragile, I suppose. Honestly he’s not even like how he is in the chatrooms… I guess I mostly just saw the side of him that pestered you with silly ideas and loaded work onto Jaehee. I hope you give him the benefit of the doubt at least.”

Zen lets out another exaggerated sigh. “If you say so… I just don’t want to see you get hurt. Especially since you just joined a week ago.”

“Yeah a… a whole week already, huh?” You run your fingers through your hair and settle deeper under the covers, pulling them up so the only thing peeking out is the top of your head and the hand holding your phone to your ear. “The party’s coming up soon.”

“Man… it’s been so long since we had the last party with Rika. I’m really glad you came to us when you did.” His voice is warm and kind.

“It’s been… quite an experience.” It’s not a lie. “You’ve all been very kind to me. Thank you.”

He hums happily in response and you picture him smiling on the other end of the phone. The line is quiet for a moment, and then you hear Zen yawn. “Oh… I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s late, isn’t it? I shouldn’t be keeping you awake. Just… _please_ be careful tonight, okay? I’ll have my phone by me the whole night so you can call me right away if anything happens. Or if you don’t call me, call the police or Jaehee or someone else.”

You really doubt it will come to that, but it’s the thought that counts. “Thanks, Zen. Get some sleep.”

“You too, princess. Sweet dreams.”

You pull your arms out from under the covers to end the call and set your phone back down on the nightstand. You yawn once yourself. Mm… talking to Zen has made you feel a bit sleepier again. And this bed is really quite comfortable…

* * *

 

Jumin glances up at the direction of his bedroom door for the umpteenth time. The penthouse has been quiet for a while, now. Even Elizabeth 3rd, safely protected in her cage, is asleep. He heard a noise an hour or two ago and wondered if his guest was having a bad dream or something, but he hasn’t heard anything since. He hopes she doesn’t feel uncomfortable staying with him, but he couldn’t just send her home after it got so late, especially not with the hacker at large… at least here she’ll be safe with him. He’s more than doubled the number of security guards around the building and instructed them to forbid anyone entry including his father and _especially_ including that… that purple-haired woman with the whiny voice.

Their new member is a bit different in person than he’d expected. She doesn’t talk about herself very much and seems particularly interested in hearing about Jumin’s childhood and his friendship with V and Rika. Jumin has never spoken much about their friendship before, but her interest is just so genuine that he finds himself mentioning things he’s never told anyone except Elizabeth 3rd. Perhaps she’s a bit like Rika in that regard – Rika, too, had a way of causing Jumin to tell her what was really on his mind, worming information out of him and forcing him to confront issues he’d been ignoring. Talking with their new member makes him forget the problems with his father and the company, and ever since she’d arrived he’d felt more at peace than he had this morning.

Despite their similar roles in the organization, however, their new member is much… softer than Rika had ever been. Rika drew people to her like a moth to a flame, able to win over even the most stubborn businessmen with her charm and wit, but their new member has a way of making Jumin want to tell her everything on his mind because he knows she’ll listen to him. Maybe that’s why he feels compelled to call her so often.

She does feel a bit distant at times, though. Maybe it’s the way she carries herself, or the small smile she gives Jumin when he asks her something about herself. She’d been extremely quiet when she first arrived at Jumin’s house, her eyes darting around the room to take everything in. They’d shared a pleasant conversation over dinner, however, and it was… comforting having her around. It was extremely rare for Jumin to have visitors, not since… not since Rika passed away. He finds himself thinking that it would be nice if their new member could stay with him more often.

There’s a noise from Elizabeth 3rd’s cage and Jumin glances up to see her stretch and knead her paws into the floor. She lets out a soft meow when she sees him looking at her. Though he knows Elizabeth 3rd is probably happier roaming freely around the apartment, it puts him more at ease knowing she’s safely locked away in there. It would take quite a bit of effort to dismantle the cage without the key. His security guards could be fallible, but the cage, at least, was not.

He hates that he can’t send security guards to Rika’s apartment to protect their new member. Why is it so necessary to keep the location a secret, even with the danger of the hacker looming over their heads? Clearly the hacker knows the address, so why shouldn’t the rest of the RFA? Perhaps he should try calling V again tomorrow to ask about it. Or maybe it would be best if their new member could remain here with him until Luciel took care of the problem and it was truly safe for her to return.

She’ll understand, won’t she?


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 8 of Jumin’s route.
> 
> Thanks so much for being patient waiting for this chapter! It was tough to write, and then there’s exam season… but that’ll all be over by next week so I should have more time to write after that. If it’s any consolation, this chapter’s over twice as long as most of the other chapters, whoops. Also huge thank you to [Masdevallia]() on AO3 for beta-ing :)

_Stupid._

How can you have let Elizabeth 3rd escape? Maybe you’ve been getting too complacent — after all, you have to have been doing _something_ right to have gotten this far. It’s been eight whole days since your last reset! And now you’ve screwed it all up. Next time, you’ll tell Jumin not to let her out, or to be more careful when he opens the door, or to tell the security guard to wait outside for a moment. Or maybe you could hold onto the cat yourself, or insist she be kept in the cage until Jumin leaves, or… _something._ God.

Of course, there’s no way to know for sure, but Elizabeth’s escape feels like it wasn’t meant to happen. Jaehee wanted you to come here and convince Jumin to go back to work, but here you are still sitting around at his penthouse while he’s out looking for Elizabeth. _Not_ according to plan.

Hell, none of this is according to plan other than V not getting captured. If anything, coming to Jumin’s penthouse has proven that you have absolutely no idea what makes the days continue on — first you’d thought it had something to do with visiting Zen, but that’s evidently not the case anymore. In fact, Zen didn’t even hurt his foot this week. Then there’s the whole thing with Unknown being a constant presence around the apartment during the early morning of the fifth day, and the fact that V gets captured if you’re not careful… it feels like you’re just going in circles rather than making any kind of progress, despite the fact that you’re now on the eighth day since your last reset.

You lean your forehead against the cool glass of the giant window overlooking the city in Jumin’s room. It doesn’t feel right, staying here. Not that you want to go back to the apartment, exactly… but you’ve never been able to stay away from it for long without a reset. You’ve only ever spent one night at Zen’s house before you reset the next night. Besides the whole issue with Elizabeth escaping, spending another day at Jumin’s penthouse seems like a one-way ticket back to Day 1. And since your idea of what gets you to the eleventh day is shaky at best, you’d been hoping you could at least see these days through to the day of the party.

You turn so your back is against the window and slide down until you’re sitting with your arms around your knees. There’s way too much space in this penthouse. There aren’t any traces of Unknown in here like there are at Rika’s apartment, but there aren’t really any traces of _anyone_ here. There’s barely anything personal of Jumin’s left around aside from some stiff-looking professional family photographs tucked away in a corner. Jumin never looks particularly pleased in any of them, and the woman beside his father changes in later photographs. You know Chairman Han has remarried at least once, maybe more. A quick Noogle search would probably reveal more, but it feels a bit too invasive if Jumin doesn’t tell you himself.

Presumably due to a maid, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the house that is dusty or unclean. That makes it difficult to tell what sorts of things get used the most often, or what things lie forgotten on a shelf or in a drawer. Maybe you’re being too nosy in trying to figure these things out, anyway, but you have a limited time to get to know as much as you can about Jumin in the hopes that _somehow_ something you’ve learned is the key to getting out of this loop.

Jumin said he would be back for lunch, but already it’s nearly noon. You wonder if he plans to call up a chef or make the food himself. Jumin doesn’t seem to be the sort of person to cook, but he _had_ made you strawberry pancakes this morning, surprisingly enough. The sight was almost comical: famous corporate heir Jumin Han, doing something as… _domestic_ as flipping pancakes. Perhaps you should have taken a photo to send to Zen. He’d already called you twice this morning wondering how you were. Zen seems even more agitated than you are that you’re still at Jumin’s penthouse instead of Rika’s apartment. It’s starting to rub off on you.

To be fair, the fact that you’re still at Jumin’s penthouse _is_ a little odd. He’d told you all-too-often while you were at Zen’s that he didn’t believe in living together before marriage. It’s not as though you’re romantically involved with Jumin or anything, but it does seem unusual that he’s willing to let you stay here for so long. Even Jaehee, who’s known Jumin for far longer than you have, gets the cold shoulder when she’s at Jumin’s for safety reasons or for work.

You hear a noise at the door across the penthouse and clamber to your feet. Even though you’d slept in Jumin’s room, it feels… weird to still be in here when he comes home. You leave quickly and walk to the living room just as Jumin closes the door behind himself. He sees you enter the room and seems to relax a little.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he says, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve. “You were safe.”

“And Elizabeth?” you ask, but you know the answer as soon as you look into his eyes.

“Nowhere,” he says, and his voice seems heavy. “I… can’t believe she’d just leave. I’ve never seen her move so quickly.” He looks to where her cage sits, now vacant, then to the living room. “Over there… on the center of that sofa, she’d meow every morning looking towards my bed. I thought she was happy here, but maybe…”

“Don’t think that,” you say. “She might have just been stressed, or maybe she didn’t like the fact that I was here and thought I was a threat, or…”

Jumin looks up at your words. “She can’t possibly have disliked you. No, please don’t think this is your fault. If you weren’t here I’m not sure what I’d do.” He runs a hand through the back of his hair and looks around the room again, then back at you. He looks… lost. “I… Won’t you stay a little longer? I don’t mean to intrude, but…”

How can you say no? Besides, if Elizabeth isn’t found by the end of today it seems likely that you’ll be reset again. “I can stay here a bit longer,” you say. “We’ll find Elizabeth, Jumin, I’m sure of it.”

The smallest of smiles crosses Jumin’s lips. “Thank you. And I’m sorry. I hate myself like this. I don’t really know how to make sense of what I’m feeling right now… I promise I’m not usually this way.”

You give him a small smile back. “I understand.” _Really._ You’ve had a long, long time to get to know what Jumin is usually like.

There’s a knock at the door and Jumin turns around. “It must be the security guard,” he murmurs and opens the door to let a muscular man in a suit inside.

“Mr. Han, sir,” he says. “There’s… someone here to see you.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s Miss Sarah, sir.”

Sarah? As in the Sarah whom Jumin is supposedly getting married to? Jumin looks towards the ceiling and lets out a long breath. “The worst woman with the worst timing,” he mutters. To the guard, he says “What does she want?”

“She says she has information about Elizabeth.”

“Well? What is it?”

The guard shuffles his feet and looks around the room. His eyes flit to you for a moment, then back to Jumin. “Er… she says she must tell you face to face.”

“God… I’m sure she has nothing useful to say.” Jumin glances at you. “But if it’s about Elizabeth… I don’t know. What do you think?”

From what you’ve heard of Sarah, it does indeed seem that she won’t have anything useful to say. “It can’t hurt to hear her out, I suppose,” you say. “There’s nothing much to lose at this point except for time.”

That gets a small chuckle out of him, and you’re glad you were able to make him smile, even if just for a moment. “Send her up, then.”

The guard nods and leaves. Jumin rubs at his face with his hand. “I’m sure she’s just looking to leverage this situation and use it against me. But if she slips up in some way and lets us know her true intentions, then that might give me a reason to never have to see her again. At this point it would be a relief if she were holding Elizabeth 3rd for ransom and I could pay to get her back and be rid of that woman forever…”

There’s another knock at the door and Jumin seems to steel himself before he answers it. From this angle, you can’t see the woman on the other side. It’s probably just as well, as her shrill voice makes you cringe.

“Jumin! Oh, you look so tired. But don’t worry! I, Sarah, am here so everything will be solved!” You can hear the click of her high heels as she takes a step forward, but Jumin remains resolute with one hand on the door, blocking her path. “You’ll let me in, won’t you? All the security guards are out here and I just want to talk to you~”

It suddenly occurs to you that if Sarah is to get inside, she will see you. Which isn’t bad in and of itself, but it might lead to her drawing some incorrect conclusions about why you’re here at Jumin’s penthouse. And what if somehow this gets back to Jumin’s father? In the unlikely event that you don’t get reset, being on the bad side of such a powerful corporate director would be inadvisable. Shit. You really didn’t think this through. Should you… go to the other room and wait until she’s gone? Will Jumin be all right dealing with her on his own? It might be silly to worry, but Jumin just seems so fragile lately that you worry Sarah might be able to convince him to do something he shouldn’t…

Caught up in your indecision, you look up again just in time to hear Sarah yelling, “I’ll show you when I get in!” and she tries to duck under Jumin’s arm to get inside the penthouse. Jumin takes an involuntary step back, just enough to let her step to the other side of the door so she’s no longer in the doorway.

“Miss! Miss, you can’t force your way in!” a security guard yells, stepping into the room as well. “Mr. Han, are you all right, sir?”

“I’m fine.” He shakes his head in disgust. “I suppose I’ll hear you out inside, then.”

“Contact us if anything happens,” the security guard says, backing out of the room. Jumin nods, and turns to Sarah once the door closes.

“You said you had a photo of Elizabeth 3rd?”

“What’s all the fuss about?” Sarah whines. “I just wanted to enter my fiancé’s house! You didn’t have to bring all those security guards…” Sarah is a lot shorter than you expected, though her high heels give her some extra height. She looks around the penthouse, taking in the vast space. And then her eyes fall on you. “And who is that woman?” she says, her eyes narrowing.

Too late to leave now. Jumin glances at you quickly, then steps so that he’s standing between you and Sarah. “Show me the photo,” he says in a voice that could have made flowers wilt.

Sarah doesn’t falter. She steps around Jumin and points her finger at you. “What are you doing here? A secret affair?”

“I’m a _friend,_ ” you say, walking over to her. “And frankly, you have no right to be making wild accusations after barging into someone’s house uninvited. Show Jumin the photo and then leave.”

Sarah clicks her tongue. “Listen to you, lying through your teeth. You think I don’t know about these sorts of things?” A glassy smile comes over her face and she looks at Jumin again. “Jumin, darling. I understand. She’s just a fling, right? I’m old enough to not make a fuss about these things. Marriage is a much more sacred bond than meaningless desire.”

“Sarah,” you say. “Please just show us the photo.”

Sarah raises her eyebrows at you, then looks to Jumin again. You can’t quite figure out his expression, but it’s clear he isn’t particularly pleased. Sarah smiles again and says, “Of course! You’ll feel much better if I show it to you, right?” She digs in her purse until she finds a photo, then holds it up for Jumin to see. “See? It’s her, right?”

Jumin takes a step back away from her outstretched arm and furrows his brows at the photo. Sarah shakes it in front of him. “It’s Elizabeth,” she says.

He pushes her hand away. “Unfortunately,” he says, “it’s not.”

The smile slides off Sarah’s face. She tries to shove the photo towards Jumin again. “No, I’m sure it is! Maybe the photo just didn’t come out right. If you come with me you can see her in person and—”

“I must refuse,” Jumin interrupts. He glances at you, then back to Sarah. “And I’m afraid I have other things to attend to now. I will call someone to escort you back home.”

Sarah sputters for a moment before regaining her composure. “I-I… but I came all this way! Are you really going to be this rude? I’m sure it’s Elizabeth, if you’ll just come to see her—”

“You must think me incompetent if you believed you could convince me that photo is of my cat. That picture can be easily found online. You must be very confident of my father’s support to shamelessly walk into my house with such a photo.”

Sarah’s cheeks flush pink. “I… I must have been tricked…!”

“Now if you would please leave, I have to find my cat.” His voice is like fractured ice.

“You can’t just throw me out! I-I really tried to find her, honestly! Don’t you think we should sit down and talk for a moment? Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot…”

“Sarah,” you say firmly. “Thank you for trying to help, but I think you’re wearing out your welcome.”

She turns to you, fire in her eyes. “I’m his _fiancée_ ,” she says.

If Jumin had been drinking something, he surely would have choked on it. He coughs and clears his throat. “Who’s whose fiancée? I have agreed to no such thing.”

“Jumin, darling, there’s no need to be shy~” Sarah coos. She rounds on you. “I don’t know what you think you’ll get out of this fling, but you don’t belong in this world. Us rich families have a reputation to keep up and you’re _nothing_ in the long run. A few more months and he won’t even remember you existed.”

You know Sarah doesn’t know about the loops but… her words hurt. Not because you long to be Jumin’s lover or something, but because it’s far too true that by the end of the day you’ll very likely reset and Jumin will indeed forget you ever existed. You can feel your nails digging into your palms. “Listen, Sarah,” you say, keeping your voice as controlled as possible. “I understand that you have the mental capacity of a toddler and cannot seem to fathom that I might just be here for moral support, so I won’t waste both our time arguing about it. I _will_ , however, ask you to kindly escort yourself out the door or so help me God I will inform Mr. Chairman personally that you tried to buy Jumin’s affection with a fake photo of his cat.”

“He’d never believe you,” Sarah says. “And… and I didn’t know the photo was fake, either! I’ll just tell him that you’re trying to seduce Jumin behind my back and ruin our marriage. Who do you think he’ll believe? Me? Or a sad little girl who’s only dreaming of getting in with the elites?”

_God_ she’s infuriating. “ _Elites?”_ you scoff. “Don’t make me laugh. This is coming from a girl whose company is so unknown everyone thought it went bankrupt years ago. If you want to insult me, you’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Sarah starts to blurt out her rebuttal but you talk over her, turning to Jumin. “Call security,” you say.

He sighs. “I’d hoped it wouldn’t be like this…”

He moves to click a button in a panel on the wall and Sarah almost falls over herself on the way to the door. “Jumin, ah, that won’t be necessary haha~” she says quickly. “I’m done helping you now so I’ll be on my way. You won’t need to call those security guards! I mean, what a fuss that would be, right? Haha.”

Neither you nor Jumin says anything. You tilt your head towards the door. Sarah’s smile is set into her face like a stone carving. “Well!” she says. “I’ll be going, then.”

At last the door closes behind her and you slump back against the wall, relieved to be rid of her. “Good god,” you murmur. “This is the woman your father wants you to marry? She’s insufferable.”

Jumin’s mind seems to be elsewhere. He fiddles with his cuff link and remains quiet for a moment until you stop leaning on the wall and move to go to the kitchen. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he says. “It’s… I promise things aren’t usually this way.”

He seems… anxious? Who wouldn’t be, you suppose, with their cat missing and their father trying to force a marriage onto them. You give him a small smile. “I understand.”

He looks like he wants to say something else, but remains silent, rubbing his thumb along the cuff of his sleeve absentmindedly. The silence starts to feel heavy. “Have you eaten yet?” you ask.

He drops his hands to his side and looks up at you again. “No, I haven’t. I’ll call the chef up.” His eyes meet yours and you can’t quite read his expression. “Thank you for being here with me.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 9 of Jumin’s route.
> 
> Alrighty, a few things here that I’ll make as quick as possible:
> 
> 1) The entire chapter is a chatroom, ergo no prose this time.
> 
> 2) A/N HOLY FRITTATAS I DUNNO WHY I MAKE THESE SO LONG, this one’s about the length of a regular chapter only it’s all in a chatroom. This was pretty much my entire day spent editing this beast. My poor laptop hates trying to save all the frames at the end. So I’d partially say that this chapter being the longest chatroom yet is at fault for the longer wait, and the other part is just me being me I suppose. I do hope to get the next chapter out faster than this one, though. In the meantime, thanks everyone for being so chill about the wait and I hope you like the chapter ;) 
> 
> 3) As always, thank you to Masdevallia on AO3 for beta-ing :)


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Day 9 of Jumin’s route.
> 
> Instead of feeling guilty over such a long time between updates, I have instead decided that I shall make a triumphant return and aim for a new update schedule of every other week or so. I am damn determined to finish what I started ;) Thanks so much for the people who have stuck with me so long! I really really appreciate it :”)
> 
> Also, a zillion kudos to Masdevallia on AO3 for helping me make sense of my draft lol. Enjoy!

Seven taps the screen a few times to sign out of the RFA messenger and opens up his contacts to find V’s number. He glances over at Yoosung, who’s several feet away and looking just about everywhere except at the giant green-roofed palace visible in the distance. He’d burst out of the car as soon as they had stopped, clearly dying to stretch his legs, but now he kept walking in tight circles and looking at his phone. Seven sighs and looks away again. He’d had been selfish in bringing Yoosung along; if anything went wrong and something happened to Yoosung, he’d hate himself for the rest of his life. But it was nice to have someone he trusted by his side.

He walks a little farther from Yoosung so that the younger boy won’t be able to listen to his conversation, but just as he’s about to call V an _Incoming Call_ message flashes up on the screen and his thumb lands on the “answer” button. _Wait. What?_

Seven stares at his phone in slight bewilderment, watching the “call time” seconds count up. Then he slowly holds the phone up to his ear.

“Seven? Seven.” A sigh, and her voice sounds more distant from the phone. “He picked up, didn’t he? Then—”

“Beep beep beep. You have reached Agent Seven-Zero-Seven. Beep beep beep. Please state your business.”

“I—oh. I thought maybe you weren’t going to pick up. I’ve been trying to contact you since last night. I was hoping to catch you since I just missed you in the chatroom.” It’s been a while since he talked to the RFA’s new member, it’s true. Part of it was due to the fact that he’d been driving nearly all night, and the other part was that he knew he’d probably just worry the RFA more by explaining the situation. They’d want to know what he and Yoosung were doing out here, and what’s happening with the hacker, and—

“Seven? You’re still there, right?”

“O-oh,” he says. “Of course! Reception isn’t that good in the countryside, you know~ What’s on your mind?”

“Well I um… have you read the messages from earlier?” Her voice is oddly high-pitched, and he wishes that he could see her expression.

Seven pulls at the strings of his hoodie and traces a line in the dirt with his shoe. “We’ve been driving all night, so I…” _…haven’t had a chance to?_ He could have, though; before he sent that message telling the RFA what to do if he went missing, he could have scrolled through the messages from the night before, but he didn’t because he didn’t want to be distracted. There’s enough on his mind already.

“No, no, of course,” she blurts out, as though she doesn’t want him to feel guilty. “I just ah… well, you see, I’m still at Jumin’s and he’s been… I mean, everything’s fine, but…” Her voice starts to quiver on the last few words.

“Hey,” Seven says, lowering his voice. “Are you all right?”

“Yes of course, I’m… I’m…” He hears a sniffle and it sounds like she’s clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh god, I’m sorry, don’t get the wrong idea, I-I’m really okay, I’m just… just stressed and I…” Her voice gets very quiet and Seven puts his hand over his other ear to catch her next words. “Seven, I can’t handle being here. I thought I was fine, but I don’t know how to help Jumin and I’m not sure why it won’t… why it won’t…”

Seven walks a few paces to his left, stops, and walks back to his original position. This is hardly his area of expertise, and making a joke to lighten the mood like he usually does doesn’t exactly seem appropriate. “Can Jaehee go pick you up? Or talk some sense into Jumin?”

“She tried! She came last night but he sent her away without even talking with her.” She sniffles again, but her next words sound a bit steadier. “Do you think you can tell V to come here? He’s the only other person I could think of.”

Funny, he’d been just about to call V, before she’d called him. “Of course. I won’t be able to call you again for a while, though. You’ll be all right?”

“I’ll be okay. Thank you,” Pause. “…Luciel.”

He can’t remember if he’s heard her call him Luciel before. He’s not sure how it makes him feel. “Okay~! Agent Seven-Zero-Seven, signing off. Sayonara!” He pulls the phone away from his ear and watches the screen, waiting for her to hang up first. A few seconds later, she does, and he sighs. When did everything get this complicated? They were just supposed to be a charity organization…

He scrolls back to V’s number again and dials it.

“V? It’s me.”

* * *

 

There’s a boy outside Mint Eye. Blonde. Short. Looks a bit like a high school student. _Why the hell would someone like that be here?_

“Oh my god! You really are Jumin’s cat!” The blond boy is crouching down and talking to something. “Why are you here? Everyone’s been looking for you…”

No, wait. This is… Yoosung. Yoosung Kim. He’s with the RFA.

Shit. If this boy is here, the RFA’s hacker is sure to be, too.

“Wait.”

The boy—Yoosung—freezes. There’s a white cat by his feet. “Yes?”

“Where are you taking that cat?”

Yoosung turns around and pales when he sees the person he’s talking to. He looks at the tattoo on the other boy’s shoulder, then at his face. “O-oh, uh, she’s… my friend’s cat. She went missing and there’s an ad for her online, so we were just… I mean, I’ll just go now, if that’s okay.” A drop of sweat beads on Yoosung’s forehead and he offers a shaky smile.

He doesn’t return the smile. “Sorry, I can’t let you leave just yet. Who did you say you came here with?”

“D-did I say that? I must have made a mistake; I’m just passing by~!”

“Yoosung!” Someone else is calling after the boy. A redhead emerges from the trees and jogs towards them.

Yoosung’s shoulders sag with relief at the sight of the newcomer, who yells “What are you doing over there?”

“Seven…! Where were you? I was worried!”

“I was more worried. I told you to stay in the car!”

_‘Seven’… haha. Of course I’d meet him here._

The redhead is tugging at Yoosung’s jacket. “I apologize~ We were just passing by!”

_Does he know?_

The fake smile the redhead was wearing drops as he looks at the boy with the tattoos. “Yoosung,” he says, “run.”

Yoosung’s mind seems to stall. “What?”

“ _Run!_ Go to the car! Now!” He shoves at Yoosung’s back and the boy stumbles before starting to run away. Oddly enough, the cat follows at his heels.

“So you figured it out,” the tattooed boy says.

“What do you mean? We were just on a picnic and got lost~ Sorry to bother you!”

“I know you’re lying… _Luciel._ ”

That causes him to stop. “…Who are you?”

The tattooed boy’s hands shake, and he curls them into fists. He doesn’t know. Of course he doesn’t know. Probably didn’t give him a second thought after leaving him behind. “You don’t remember…” he says, his nails biting into his palms. “You forgot about me. I knew it.” A short, bitter laugh escapes his lips. “You know how long I’ve thought about what I would do when I saw you again? It wasn’t supposed to be like this, though. You’re not supposed to be here.”

The redhead’s eyes widen. _Now_ he understands. “You… no, that isn’t…you can’t be…”

“So you recognize me now? How does it make you feel, _Luciel?_ ” He spits out the word like it’s acid and the other man takes a step backwards, his face growing pale. “I hear you got rid of your name, too.” _Trying to forget about me? Did you ever feel guilty?_

He’s shaking his head, as though he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing in front of him. “No, you… the RFA…”

“How _is_ your new member doing? I’m sure she just _loves_ living in that apartment, with the special security system and all…” He’s really rubbing it in, isn’t he? But he needs to see a reaction from him. It’s not enough for the RFA’s hacker to be surprised, or horrified, no… he has to feel the same sense of despair, the pain of endless days filled with nothing but hopelessness...

“This isn’t…” His eyes are wide and unfocused behind his striped glasses. “Rika told me…!”

There’s a loud engine noise to the left and both boys turn to watch a fancy sports car screech to a stop behind the redhead. The blond boy from earlier sticks his head out the window and shouts “Seven!!! Get in the car!”

“Huh? Yoosung…!”

“Hurry up! Haven’t you seen any action movies?”

With a pained glance back at the pale boy standing in front of the palace in the mountains, the redhead gets into the car with his friend and drives away, leaving the other boy in a cloud of dust.

Slowly, he uncurls his fist and glances down to see the tiny cuts he’s carved into his palms. Dammit. _Dammit._ This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He wasn’t supposed to show up here and mess with their plans, and he wasn’t supposed to know about Mint Eye until later. The next time they met, _he_ was supposed to have the upper hand, with all of Mint Eye backing him. Then the other boy would see how very wrong he’d been. This was all… wrong…


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Days 9 and 10 of Jumin’s route.
> 
> Woohoo, keeping up with the updates. This chapter didn’t take long to write, but being a chatroom, it took a while to edit. Hopefully you think it turned out well :)
> 
> That said, this is a chatroom-only chapter; no prose this time. Plenty of prose next chapter though! 
> 
> Thanks again to Masdevallia on AO3 for beta-ing ^^


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small spoilers for Day 10 of Jumin’s route, mostly regarding his third Bad End.
> 
> Allllrighty, after another long break I have more EP chapters for you! I’ve already written the next few chapters, too, so look forward to it :) Thanks so much for the people who come back to read this! I always love comments if you have a second -- even just "AHHHH!" is an acceptable comment, hehe~
> 
> Oh! And you may have noticed, but I've changed the way the chatroom sections in previous chapters display. Hopefully it works better for most people. Opinions are welcome ^^
> 
> Un-beta’d because my beta is currently busy - I might look for someone to do the next couple of chapters, if anyone’s up for it. Let me know!

“I’m sorry for the trouble my friend has caused you.” V sits across from you in Jumin’s company car.  Though night is falling, he’s still wearing sunglasses and you can’t help but wonder what Jumin meant when he asked V about his eyes earlier.

“No, no, it’s not his fault, really. I’m the one who should apologize. I didn’t mean to make such a big fuss, and I’m sorry you had to come out here to get me yourself…” You flip your phone over in your hands. “And um, I guess I didn’t really say this while we were at Jumin’s, but it’s nice to finally meet you, V.” Surprisingly enough, you really mean it; this is the first time you’ve met V in person. He’s a bit taller than you’d imagined, and his hair really is as blue as it seems in his profile picture. He’s also got a calming sort of presence you hadn’t expected, especially given how suspicious you’d seen him acting.

“Yes, I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. I’d hoped to meet you at the party.”

You really doubt there will be a party; not when you’ve screwed up things this badly. In fact, you’d been quite surprised that you woke up in Jumin’s apartment this morning, having gone to sleep completely convinced you were going to be reset soon. Between Elizabeth the 3rd’s disappearance, Jumin’s disastrous mental state, and whatever had happened on Yoosung and Seven’s road trip, almost nothing seemed to be going the way you had hoped. At least nothing bad had happened to V on the fifth day like it had so many times before…

“By the way, V… Seven was looking for you earlier. He seemed pretty distressed. Do you know what’s bothering him?”

You wonder if you see him twitch slightly at the question. “Luciel is… I’m sure he’ll be himself again soon. I’ve had some difficulties with my phone recently but I’ll get in contact with him when I can.”

_‘Difficulties with his phone’ huh…_

Should you ask him the other questions? Will it just reset? Does it matter if it resets now when this day is probably already a lost cause? But what if you’re wrong and it doesn’t reset tonight, but if you ask V the wrong thing you’ll get kicked out of this loop before you can find out what’s after today? It is the tenth day, after all. Just one more day and it’s possible you’ll be free of this loop… not likely, but possible.

Well… if you must, you’ll probably be able to get to this point again and make a different decision. But for now, you need to know. “You know more about Mint Eye than you’re telling us. Why would a cult like that be after us? And who is their hacker?”

V doesn’t reply immediately. It’s hard to read his expression in this lighting, especially with his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” he says slowly. “I’m afraid I can’t answer them all now. If you’re worried about the party, everything will go smoothly. I’d like to solve this problem without troubling you and the other RFA members too much.”

You already _were_ bothered, though. How selfish of him to think he could try to solve everything on his own. “V—” you start, but he cuts you off as the car slows to a stop beside a building.

“We’ve arrived,” he says. “I’m sorry I can’t go to Rika’s apartment with you. I hope you’ll be safe finding your way back from here.”

“I…” You look out the window and see the familiar grand entrance to C&R’s offices, then glance back at V. “I’ll be fine,” you say, “but V—”

“I’ll see you at the party tomorrow. Please leave everything to me and finish preparing.”

You hesitate, but eventually open the car door and climb out. “Goodbye, V.”

You watch the car pull out of C&R’s driveway and merge back into traffic before walking towards your bus stop. Well, that was useless. V didn’t tell you anything you don't already know.

Does he think he's somehow protecting the RFA by keeping secrets from them? Why? Whatever the problem is, surely they can figure out a solution together. Jumin certainly has the resources, and Seven's hacking can get them the information they need.  
Seven... you recall how he left the last chatroom seeming quite unlike himself. You'd tried to call him afterwards, but he hadn't picked up. Just what had happened to make him like that?

Your bus pulls up to the stop and you get on, pulling out your phone when you sit down. You find Seven's name in your contacts and dial his number.

It rings for a long time and you pull your phone away from your ear, disappointed, when suddenly there's a click. "... Seven?" 

"Haa..." He breathes a sigh in your ear. "Hello..." he says after a pause. "It's you..." 

"Yes, I called because I was worried. Are you... are you alright...?" 

He laughs, or maybe he's crying – it sounds like an odd combination of the two. Seven, crying? "No, I’m not…” he says. “My heart’s crumbled into bread crumbs… So sad... my poor bread crumbs..."

Bread... crumbs? "Seven?" You hesitate. "Seven, you went to Mint Eye with Yoosung... didn't you? What happened?" 

"Haha..." He laughs again, but his voice sounds like something inside him is breaking. "You don't really care about me though... you worry about everyone else... I'm nothing..."

He thinks you don't care about him? It's true you don't always understand his sense of humor, and you haven't really spent time with him in any of the loops the way you have with, say, Zen and Jaehee, but you never realized how much you relied on his quirky jokes and amusing chatroom antics until that was gone. You stare at your reflection in the window of the bus as the city zooms by outside. "I _do_ care, Seven. You saw something there, didn't you? Help me understand." 

He sighs loudly and doesn't speak right away. "The person who hacked the RFA app... the one who led you to the apartment. They're the same person." 

“Who is he? He was there, wasn’t he? You said you met someone.” Does he know Unknown? If you could just find out who he is…!

“He wasn’t supposed to be there…”

“What did he look like?” Your heartbeat thumps loudly in your ears. “Seven, is his hair bleached? With mint eyes?”

Seven is quiet and you realize your hands are shaking hard enough to drop your phone. You tighten your grip and press it closer to your ear. “Who is he? How do you know him?”

He’s not saying anything. Why is he so quiet? Say something, dammit! Does Seven know who Unknown is? Does he know why Mint Eye is after the RFA? What did they see at Mint Eye? What is Seven not telling you?

“ _Who is he, Luciel?”_

“I can’t tell you… no one was supposed to know…”

“Seven, please.” You lower your voice. “Who is he? Why do you know him? And why is he attacking the RFA?”

There’s a faint beeping sound and the line goes dead silent. You pull the phone away from your ear. _Call Ended, 2:23._

No, no, no. You’re this close to finding out who Unknown is. This close to answers, this close to maybe making it out of the loop. What happened during that road trip? Would Yoosung tell you? Does Seven just not trust you enough? Did you make another mistake?

You click the button to signal your stop to the bus driver and manage to get off and start walking back to Rika’s apartment.

You’ve made a mistake somewhere; you must have. Will you be able to do this loop again? But where are you going wrong? When Elizabeth escaped? Dealing with Sarah? Going back to Rika’s apartment while Jumin was in such a state had to be wrong, too… but why?

The familiar paranoia sets in as you step into the elevator to ascend to the 14th floor. But… Seven said he took care of whatever was happening at Mint Eye… so it should be okay… right?

You punch in the code to unlock the apartment door and quickly lock it behind you. All the lights are off. ...Did you turn the kitchen light off when you left?

Still standing by the door, you feel along the wall to flip the switch on. You’re just… being paranoid, probably…

Your fingers find the switch. _Flick._

“You’re finally here.”

_That voice._

No…

“It’s you.” You wish your voice wasn’t so shaky.

He’s standing in the corner of the room, making no motion to move towards you. Almost like he knows you won’t run away. His jacket hangs off one of his shoulders, giving you a clear view of the tattoo of an eye on his arm.

You let your hand fall to your side. In his hand… is a switch. Your breath leaves your lips in a puff and you can feel your heart sinking into your stomach. “Who are you?” You can’t bring yourself to look at his face, your gaze fixated on that stupid switch in his hand…

“I’m the angel who’s come to take you to paradise~” His voice has a somewhat playful tone to it. He’s not… _teasing_ you, is he? Is this a game to him?

“You say that, but I know what that switch does.” You tear your eyes away from it to look him in the eye. “Don’t lie to me. Who is Seven to you?”

His mouth twists into a grimace. “Your precious redhead… is nothing but an annoyance. A vile bug meant to be squashed.” He looks at the switch in his hand. “He might have gotten us this time… but I plan to have the last word. Everyone went on a trip to find a new Magenta. Except me… since I have to take responsibility for everything and be here. I don’t deserve to be happy.

“I wanted to take revenge on him myself… but I still haven’t figured out the security at his house.” He clenches his fingers into a fist. “But there is one thing my saviour left for me. This switch… I’ll use it to give everyone a new beginning.” He glances in your direction, then looks away again. “I wanted to talk to you… but it’s too late, now. I messed up.”

You’re starting to question if he understands what the switch actually does. You take a slow step forward and his eyes snap to yours. He holds out the switch threateningly.

“Wait!” you say, holding up your hands. “Don’t press it yet. I won’t move.”

His brow furrows and he stares at you intently. You can see sweat beads on his forehead. Is he… nervous? “Tell me your name,” you say. _Give me something,_ anything _to go on…_

His eyes widen, then narrow in suspicion. “Why don’t you ask your hacker,” he says, and drops his gaze to the object in his hand, his mouth set in a grim line.

_Click._

.

.

.

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt._


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to post notes at the beginning, lol. Not a whole lot to mention. I don't think there are any spoilers, this round. Huge thanks to Masdevallia for beta-ing this again ^^ For those of you who've been with this fic for a while, you'll get to see how I'm doing the chatroom sections now (as videos). Let me know what you think! I'm putting the screenshots on Flickr too so that hopefully they'll last the test of time and links won't break etc etc.
> 
> Next chapter is ready to go - I really wanna see this through! - and I'm hoping to update once a week or so. Wish me luck, and thank you so, so much to you readers who've come back to read this and leave lovely comments even though I started this fic a year ago. It really makes me happy knowing you guys keep reading even after all this time :')

Cold. You feel cold when you wake up, gasping for air. Your clothes are damp against your skin from sweating as you open your eyes to stare at the ceiling of your old apartment.

Shit. Dammit. A muffled sob clogs up your throat and you press your face into your pillow to let out a cry of frustration. You hate that you let Unknown control your emotions like this. You hate the fear and the trepidation. You hate the uncertainty and the paranoia. You hate that, at the same time, there’s this curiosity deep down, wondering who this mystery figure is and why he seems to be so important to your loops.

He wouldn’t give you his name… but somehow he and Seven know each other. That, at least, is some useful information.

_Bzzt bzzt._

Should you go back to the last loop and see if you can do things right? Was there even a “right” way to do that loop? Frankly, you aren’t entirely sure how you’d gotten the days to continue in the first place. Your best guess is that it had something to do with talking to Jumin enough that V listened when you warned him about not going on a trip.

Jumin… you suppose he’s back to “normal” now that the days have started over. You can’t help but feel a sense of guilt over how things turned out last time. Maybe if you’d just been more patient, or if you’d been able to understand him better, or if… if you hadn’t gone through years of the same days over and over... maybe you could have been the kind of person he needed.

_Bzzt bzzt._

You rub the back of your hand across your face to get rid of the wetness there and glance at your phone. If only Unknown would wait a little bit longer…

 

 

 

* * *

 

Your stomach growls as you lie on the bed at Rika’s apartment. You know the RFA members would disapprove, but you haven’t eaten much of anything today. In fact, you’ve done very little aside from relocating to Rika’s apartment as per Unknown’s wishes. You haven’t really interacted with anyone after joining the RFA, nor picked up your phone calls. You already know what everyone is going to say.

Maybe if you were as good at hacking as Seven, you could write a program that replied to everyone’s messages for you. Maybe there’s some combination of events, some sequence of replies you haven’t done, and that’s why you’re stuck in this loop. Maybe the only way to get out is to systematically try every possible option available to you, since your trial-and-error method sure as hell isn’t doing you any favours.

You sigh and roll onto your side. As if you could make a program like that, anyway. It would have to have some semblance of intelligence to reply to all the messages in a coherent manner, and you’d have to program it all in one go since nothing carried over between loops…

Well, that isn’t completely true. Your memories carry over between loops, which is why you’re stuck in this hell in the first place. You glance at the desk on the other side of the room. Your gaze falls to that one _stupid_ drawer with contents _so_ important that apparently it is acceptable to put people’s lives in danger to protect them. Someday you’ll figure out what’s in there.

Or, well… maybe that’s what you should start focusing on next. It’s not the first time you’ve considered trying to find out what was inside - not by a long shot - but maybe it really is time to spend a series of loops learning how to open it without setting off the alarm. Which probably means… hacking.

You'd be lying if you said the thought didn't frighten you at least a little bit. Your previous attempt hadn't exactly gone well. But what do you have to lose? Almost nothing, at this point. There really isn't anything to be worried about. You can always try again.

You ignore the knot in your stomach and wipe your clammy palms on your pants as you sit up. What better time than now, right? Nothing to lose. You won't be anywhere close to figuring out how to hack the drawer for a long time, anyway. That will be enough time to get rid of this feeling you get whenever you think about what happened the last time you tried to get into the drawer…

You pull your ancient laptop out of your bag and drum your fingers on the keys as you wait for it to boot up. You’ll probably have to get a better computer if you get really serious about hacking. Likely a desktop computer instead of a laptop. What does Seven use? ...What does Unknown use? It’s possible Unknown is the better hacker, seeing as he’s been able to hack into the RFA chatroom several times, not to mention the ‘special security system’.

You type in your laptop password after the login screen shows up and sigh. As if you’d ever be able to ask Unknown about his hacking skills anyway. What are you gonna do, casually bring up the topic when he comes to kidnap you? Stake out the chatroom on the fourth day when he hacks in and politely ask how he accessed it?

Or, well, maybe that’s not too far off-base. Not the politely asking him part, but perhaps it’s worth looking into that short period on the fourth day when he hacks into the chatroom. What if you could use that to track him, somehow? He has to access the chatroom from somewhere, right? If you had the right tools and knew what to look for, surely there would be a way. Or if Seven would just _tell_ you who Unknown is, things would be easier… but you're not sure how to get him to trust you enough for that yet.

So, two possible leads then. First, learn how to hack. Then, depending on what’s easier, either find out what’s in the desk drawer, or see if you can trace Unknown’s location and figure out what his organization is up to yourself. You should probably put some more effort into talking to Seven during some of these loops, too, because if you can figure out how to get him to trust you, he might save you the trouble of hacking into everything on your own—

You realize what you’re thinking and freeze, your fingers hovering over the keyboard of your laptop. No, no, you shouldn’t think of Seven like that, like a puzzle to figure out, a tool to exploit, instead of a person. Sure, if he trusts you enough to reveal his relation to Unknown, or if he helps you find out more about the organization he belongs to, great. But that shouldn’t be the reason you talk to him more. No, you should just try to get to know him better. You’ll find your own solution to the problem with Unknown.

You glance at the time. It’s not quite 5pm… Seven should be online, then. At this hour, usually he talks a little about how he can't focus, and often he'll mention Rika, sounding almost somber for all of three seconds before he posts a photo of himself dressed up as a girl, then goes back to posting nonsense again. It's quite different from the way he sounded when you talked to him on the phone less than twenty-four hours ago…

Setting your laptop aside for now, you pick up your phone and tap to log into the RFA chatroom. Right on cue, Seven logs in as well.

Just as you finish logging out of the RFA chatroom, your phone buzzes and Seven’s profile picture appears on your screen. He hasn’t changed it from what you’ve come to think of as his ‘default’ photo, the first profile picture you’ve seen him use. You swipe to answer the call.

“Hi, Seven.”

“Meoooooooooow~”

You pause and pull your phone slightly away from your ear to look down at it. O...kay…

“M-meow?” you reply tentatively.

“Oh? Is that you, my precious Elly~?” There’s a smile in his voice and you try to force your own mouth into a similar expression. Just play along. Loosen up. 

“Meow, meow,” you say.

Seven chortles. “Oh? You miss me, too? Jumin’s so mean, isn’t he… keeping us apart like this…”

...Does he expect you to just keep meowing? How long are you supposed to keep this up for?

“I’m… meow… glad that you called, meow.”

“Of course!” Seven says. Phew, he seems to have dropped the cat thing for now. “How fare things at the abode of our lady Rika?”

“They… it’s... faring well. How fare things with you?”

“Ahh…” He sighs. “There’s always plenty to do. But no worries! I, Seven Zero Seven, can take care of it!”

It’s easy to forget how much Seven does for the RFA when he’s always kidding around in the chatrooms. “I hope you call me sometimes to take a break,” you say, and despite everything you really mean it. Under all those memes and jokes is someone who genuinely cares about the RFA members; someone you really haven’t taken the time to get to know until now.  “Superheroes need to rest, too,” you say.

“Uwaaah~” he says. “So thoughtful. You seem like a nice person. I’m sorry I have to do more research on you…”

“I don’t mind. You’re making sure I’m not a threat to the RFA, right? Do what you need to.”

“Yup!” There’s a rustling sound, and you hear a few clicks from a computer mouse. “Um… I have lots of work to do so I need to hang up…. Thanks for talking with me.”

“I understand. Good luck!”

“Thank you! Have a nice night!”

There’s a click, then silence. You lower your hand from your ear and tap the corner of your phone against one of your legs mindlessly. It hadn’t been a bad conversation, all things considered. And you’re sure to get the hang of his sense of humour sooner or later.

You pull your laptop closer again and open up your web browser. Perhaps this won’t be so bad, after all. 


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler-free! This was a bit of an unusual chapter to write, but hopefully you enjoy it~ Thanks again to Masdevallia for beta-ing!  
> Thanks for all the nice feedback on the previous chapters! I'm glad you guys seem to like the video format for the chatrooms, since it allows me to be a bit more creative if I know you're going to see it all animated. Hope you like this chapter, too ^^

You sigh as you read through yet another error message preventing you from compiling your code. Goddammit. You’ve probably just forgotten to close a bracket or something. You jump to the lines of code mentioned in the error and start clicking through, trying to see what your mistake is.

You’d thought learning programming languages would be easier than learning real-world languages – how many rules could there be, anyway? – but you’d take mastering Arabic over this any day. At least in a natural language, forgetting to type one damn semicolon in an essay doesn’t render the entire paper illegible. 

Ah, there it is – you’d typed an extra bracket after one of your ‘If’ statements that ended the function early. You correct the typo and hit “Run” again to compile your code.

... Another error. 

 

* * *

 

Though his research didn’t suggest she’d taken any sort of computer science classes, the day after their new member joins she messages Seven asking if he can help her figure out what’s wrong with a program she’s written. He supposes she must code as a hobby, then. The thought makes him a little warm inside. 

It’s an easy fix, in any case – one of her functions shares a name with a function in the language’s built-in library, so all she has to do to get rid of the error is call it something else. It’s not a very complex program; it looks like the kind of thing you might find as a question in a programming textbook. Seven wonders if she's learning to code for any reason in particular, like wanting to make a game or boost her resume for a job she wants. Whatever her reason, it's kind of fun helping her out. It’s nice to have an excuse to talk to her more often.

 

* * *

 

She bought a new computer. From the screen he’s dedicated to the apartment security feed he hacked into, he watches her sign off on the delivery. Well, it's about time. He's seen the laptop she had before this, though he's not quite sure what would make her decide to buy a desktop computer instead of a new laptop. Unless she thinks she's going to need extra processing power for something like gaming. 

… Does she game? He leans back in his chair and runs his fingers through his bleached bangs. He didn't think she did, but at this point he's almost more surprised to find things he  _ does _ know about her. Maybe this is a new hobby she’s getting into, or an old one he didn’t know about. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions too soon. He know he has to talk to her at some point, explain things, get her to understand, but nothing ever seems to go as planned. 

She seems to tell the delivery person to leave, and when they’re gone she looks around warily before struggling to carry her purchase into the apartment. For just a moment, she glances at the security camera and their eyes meet, though she wouldn't know it. Then she's gone and he's left staring at an empty hallway. Well. Break time is over, then. The saviour might be upset to find out how much time he’s spent studying these camera feeds, but he’s already got most of his code completed for what’s to come next. Sometime soon the pieces should all fall into place.

 

* * *

 

At half past midnight, Seven's phone rings. Who would be up this late…? He checks the caller ID. Oh. It's their new member. He'd just talked to her a few hours ago. What could she have to talk about now? 

“Seven? It's me again. I did what you said, but now I'm getting a memory leak error.”

“So you fixed your sort function?... I didn't think you were using heap memory for that.”

She sighs. “Well, that function doesn't, but I was using it as part of another program, and that's where the memory leak is. I pass it a pointer to the array I'm trying to sort.”

Seven stares at his computer screen, swivelling his chair back and forth. “Can’t you store the information in a vector? Then you wouldn't have to manage the memory yourself.”

“Store it in a… vector?” Her voice becomes distant and he can hear her typing something on her keyboard.  _ “... the heck is a vector…” _ she murmurs. 

Seven chuckles. “Let me know if that fixes the problem~”

“Gahhh… this is getting ridiculous. Yes. Okay. I'll try using vectors. Thank you… again.” She sounds a little on edge. 

“No problem! I should get back to work now.”

“Okay. Me too. I…” She stops mid-sentence and lets out a long breath. “I'm sorry,” she says. I didn't mean to sound so curt. I… I really am grateful. You keep answering my calls and walking me through solutions to all the silly problems I have. I know you're busy. Honestly if I didn't have you, I'd probably just give up on the whole thing. So, thank you.”

Seven isn't really sure what to say. Sure, she'd called a few times and interrupted what he was doing, but she'd only had a couple of questions and besides, coding is what he does best. He's happy to get to know her better. “Um… you don't have to sound so serious, hehe. I like taking breaks to talk to you.”

“Even when all I do is bombard you with questions?” There's a smile in her voice and Seven wishes he could see her face. “... I like talking with you, too. I should let you get back to work, though. Don't stay up too late!”

There's a click and the call ends. Seven realizes he's still smiling a little as he puts down the phone. 

 

* * *

 

Your fingers fly over the keyboard, regurgitating memorized code onto the screen for yet another attempt. This time… you really hope this time will be the time that works. 

Whether he knows it or not, Seven has been a huge help in creating this program. You can't help but smile a little at the irony that it's his own code you're trying to hack. 

Hacking, as it turns out, is much less glamorous than it sounds. There isn't some magical line of code that nets you unlimited access to a system, nor a mystical ability bestowed to hackers that let them make sense of a well-encrypted program. Even after spending all this time learning how to code and studying up on computer and database security, a lot of your successes have been due to extreme luck and guesswork, and the rest largely thanks to brute-force techniques. And of course, it doesn't hurt that you have a lot more time than most people to find a solution through trial and error. 

You send the compiled code to your phone and check the time. Okay. You've only got a few minutes after you start until Seven notices something is up and blocks you. Here goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small disclaimer: although I'm currently majoring in Computer Science, I'm not a hacker (lol) so I'm taking some liberties here~ But the coding stuff I mention are all actual errors I've run into and problems I've had to solve. Wish _I_ had someone like Seven to help out...


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small spoilers for some stuff revealed around Day 7ish on Seven's route :)
> 
> Ahhh exciting stuff, guys. I'm really happy to be writing this ^^ Thanks so much for your feedback! Gives me strength to keep writing, hehe~ Thanks as always to Masdevallia for beta-ing!

It’s the fourth day, 11:32pm. V logs out of the chatroom and you glance anxiously at the clock again before replying to Seven. As soon as Seven logs out, you’ll be putting your plan into action. The idea is to time it so that the program you’ve written to extract Unknown’s information starts collecting data right as Unknown logs in. Your code should be just about perfect this time – the only reason you hadn’t gotten the log on the last loop was because you’d started your program too late and the log had been cut short before you could finish collecting the data. But this time should be perfect. Then _you’ll_ be the one chasing after Unknown.

 You let out a breath and double-check the program folder where you’d saved the extracted log. You got it, right? The log is sitting in the folder like it should be. It’s a large enough file, so it probably wasn’t cut short like the last several times – not that you’ll know for sure until you finish decrypting it.

You glance again at the messages Unknown left in the chatroom. Who is he talking to? ‘Saeyoung’? Who is Saeyoung? Is that who he’s waited so long to see again?

You slouch in your seat, your back feeling a bit sore from sitting so stiffly in anticipation. This… doesn’t make sense. Every time before this loop, Unknown’s messages were partially illegible. You have the messages memorized because you’d tried to work out what they said before, to no avail. Even after scanning through some of the partial logs you’d gathered before, the data was too corrupted to extract the original text.

It doesn’t make sense. You’ve literally done this exact thing for months on end trying to get the log. Have you done something different enough this loop that prompted a different reaction from Unknown? But what did you do?

You look again at the chatroom log file you’ve collected. Well, you aren’t going to find any answers until you finish decrypting it. You make a few backups, then run the log through a program you’d written beforehand to decipher the RFA’s encryption, then try putting it through the program you use to get rid of Unknown’s encryption.

The latter program crashes and leaves you with a very complicated error message detailing the problems. You sigh and sit up in your seat again, scrolling through some of the error message before opening the log itself to take a look.

You’re stunned into silence. What _is_ this? It doesn’t even remotely look like the partial logs you’d worked on before. Is it because this is the first time you’ve gotten the whole log? That doesn’t really make sense, but what other explanation is there? You scroll further down the log, looking for anything even passably familiar. If you’re lucky, Unknown will have used a similar underlying structure for his encryption and just changed some of the more visible parts.

Good God. You stretch your arms and roll your shoulders a few times. It’s just a little past midnight, now–-

Wait. Midnight? Shit, you should go. What if Unknown shows up at the apartment? Your heart seems to freeze in your throat.

_Calm down. There’s time._

Where should you go? The café again? Oh, but… you won’t be able to bring your hacking computer there. You suppose that isn’t the end of the world, but … wait. If you don’t figure out the log by morning and you’re at that café, you’ll be reset. And then you won’t know what’s in the log at all and your effort will be for nothing. Wow, you really haven’t thought this part through. Or, more like you’d just assumed your programs could quickly decode the log with perhaps some minor modifications, but now… Unknown’s encryption changing had never been part of the plan. Goddamn. Maybe you should have been talking to Jumin again and trying to get more days. Should you risk it and stay at the apartment to decrypt the log? You’ve never been caught by Unknown before… but you’d _really_ rather not take any chances.

Decrypt the log… or play it safe…?

Your heart seems to settle back in your chest and you take a deep breath. The log. Something is up here, and you’re going to figure it out. And if Unknown _does_ come…. You glance at the window he usually comes through. Well, you’ll be ready if he comes. If you’re lucky, Seven might even call you and warn you.

You put on a pair of shoes in case you need to make a quick escape and position yourself so you can see both the window and the door to the hallway. Okay. Ready. You swallow and stretch your fingers again, trying to stop your hands from shaking. Now you’ll really get to see if all those loops you’ve spent learning how to hack are worth anything.

You’ve barely begun typing when your phone buzzes with a new notification.

_12:18am – Yoosung★ is now online._

Yoo...sung? At 12:18am? That’s a first. Unless he’s logging on really early to give that odd spiel about how the RFA were all robots… but you haven’t seen him say that sort of thing since before the… since before the bomb went off and your first few days got scrambled up. You’ve also seen him log in and talk about LOLOL on the fifth day… hmm. That was such a long time ago. Was that when you’d gotten Jaehee to go to Zen’s house instead of going yourself? It’s been ages since you’ve gone through the sequence of days when Zen hurts his foot.

Assuming it’s not some excessively early variation on loops you’ve been through before, this is the first time Yoosung has been online at this time on the fifth day. Should you log in as well to talk to him?

No, no. You shake your head at yourself. Decrypt the log first. You can always read what he wrote later. If Seven logs in, though, you should probably talk to him in case it has something to do with the hacker.

Your heart seems to be stuttering the whole time and you feel a bit of hope blossoming next to the knot of unease in your chest. Unusual login times usually mean you did something that will earn you a few more days, maybe even up to the party date… but you’ve also been fooled before. And a few days aren’t really anything to get excited over unless they lead to a way out of the loop instead of just a couple extra days before you’re reset like always.

Still, there’s just something about this particular loop…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo low-key the next chapter has a reaaaaaaaaaally long chatroom part. Like, the longest yet. So uh... wish me luck Photoshopping it... haha... _guys it's gonna take me like 6+ hours to edit that thing whyyy lmao_


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After about 7 and a half hours of time spent on this one freaking chatroom, I present to you: Chapter 37! Holy lord the chatroom was endless and yet it's only around 800 words T_T It _is_ about the longest chatroom yet, rivalling Chapter 30's chatroom. 
> 
> Much thanks to Masdevallia for being a wonderful beta, and to you guys for the nice comments :) I'm always so happy to see a new notification sitting in my inbox~
> 
> Itty bitty 'spoiler' for the very very beginning of Day 5 Seven's route. If you've played Jumin's route though then you're definitely fine. Anyway, enjoy!

 You’re nearly startled out of your chair when your phone goes off, then almost drop the phone itself trying to see what the notification is for.

_ 1:48am – Jaehee Kang is now online. _

1:48am... God, you’ve been working on this for almost two hours already, yet it feels like you’ve barely made any progress. True, some of the underlying structures to Unknown’s encryption are the same, as you’d hoped, and you’re pretty sure you know how long the key he used to encrypt the log is. But you’re starting to run out of ideas on what to do besides just checking every possible key in a brute-force attack, and that would take far longer than just a few hours. The new computer you cobble together each new loop is powerful, but not enough to do that many calculations in so short a time period.

_ 1:50am – 707 is now online. _

Seven! Perhaps you should log in. He might have something to say about the hacker. You log in and quickly scroll up to read the past messages before joining the conversation. It looks like earlier in the night Yoosung logged in to complain about a weird alarm sound that his phone made. Hmm. You don’t recall  _ your  _ phone making any odd sounds. When Jaehee logged in a few minutes ago, she mentioned hearing an obnoxious alarm sound as well. Now she appears to be chastising Seven for encouraging Jumin to pursue another cat project.

 

You set your phone down and turn back towards your computer, which is still running the log against a series of possible decryption keys you’d given it earlier. At this rate it’ll be  _ days _ before you finish decrypting the log – time you don’t have, unless something changes. Seven did mention he’d work on decrypting it as well… but he also seems to have a lot on his plate. And anyway, it’s unlikely Seven would share the decrypted log with you. The goal now is to figure out where Unknown is on your own so you can solve some of these questions yourself. If you can figure it out before you’re reset, you’ll never have to hack into the RFA’s app to retrieve Unknown’s log again since you can just memorize the information.

You think about your conversation in the chatroom earlier and smile a little to yourself. Seven  _ did _ notice something odd with the messenger, but it’s pretty clear he doesn’t suspect you at all. Most of your initial attempts at extracting the log from the messenger had ended early because Seven would realize something was wrong and block you from the app, but judging from your recent conversation he’s not even sure what information you’d retrieved when you hacked the RFA application earlier. It would be fun to see his face in person if you told him you, too, hacked into his app. He mentioned wanting to come see you at Rika’s apartment, which is a nice thought, if impossible. Having  _ someone _ else in the apartment has got to be better than sitting around here on your own. And you’ve really grown to enjoy some of your conversations with the RFA’s hacker. Quirky though his sense of humour might be, he’s made you smile on days where you were questioning what exactly you were putting all this effort into learning how to code for. In fact, you’ve been smiling more as of late, even daring to make some of your own jokes in the chatrooms instead of just typing in responses you know will make the days continue. Maybe he’s rubbing off on you.

You lean your chair on its back legs and stare up at the ceiling, rocking back and forth precariously with your foot anchored to the desk. It would be nice to be able to work together with Seven on how to solve this issue with Mint Eye and Unknown, too, instead of trying to take this on by yourself. But this is just how it has to be, isn’t it? Every couple of days without fail Seven will forget your previous conversations, forget the code he taught you, forget the jokes he told you. You’ve been pushing this series of days to the limit trying to find ways to avoid having the exact same conversations with everyone day after day, but no matter how much you change your own actions you’re inevitably drawn back to the same topics, the same phone calls, the same sequence of events. It’s like an elastic; no matter how much you push and stretch at the boundaries, it always snaps back into place just as it was before.

The foot that you’d been pushing against the desk to rock your chair back and forth catches on air and you gasp as you suddenly lose your balance. You try to sit up and right the chair, but it’s too late so you thrust out a hand to break your fall instead. There’s an immense clatter and a sharp pain in your wrist as you’re deposited unceremoniously onto the floor.

Ow. Ow, ow, ow. That was really stupid. You roll off the upended chair and put a hand on the floor to push yourself up –  _ ow! _ You flop back onto the floor and carefully bring your hand up to your face, the one you’d used to break your fall. It throbs a little, and when you try putting pressure on it there’s a prickling pain in your wrist. Wait. You didn’t seriously sprain your wrist, did you? You use your other hand to sit up and study the injury. It doesn’t  _ look _ bad… but it definitely hurt when you tried to put your weight on it. Goddammit, this is your dominant hand, too. Can you still type with a wrist injury? 

You curse your foolishness under your breath. How stupid can you be to hurt yourself at a time like this? You couldn’t have done this later,  _ after _ you’d decrypted the log? Of course not, it just  _ has _ to be now, when you’re on a time limit. Still grumbling under your breath, you stand and pick up your chair with your good hand, then wander into the kitchen to get some ice for your wrist. This had better not slow down your progress with decrypting Unknown’s log. You glance at the window he sometimes breaks through and frown. And it damn well had better not prevent you from escaping if Unknown drops by. 

_ Well, whatever, _ you think, angrily reaching into the freezer for some ice. A few more hours and you’ll be reset anyway and won’t make this stupid mistake again. You’ll just put some ice on the damn thing for a little while and then— 

...There’s no ice in the freezer. 

_ Goddammit. _

Of course there isn’t. You haven’t had a reason to make ice in Rika’s apartment this loop, so why would there be any ice here? The fridge doesn’t have an ice-maker, either, so you’re fresh out of luck.

You slam the freezer door shut again and lean against the kitchen counter, holding your injured wrist away from your body awkwardly. Would cold water suffice…? Probably not. No, that’s a stupid thought. You don’t even have ice trays to  _ make _ ice with in the apartment. You suppose this means you should go to the convenience store and pick up an ice pack or something. They’re open 24/7 so it doesn’t really matter that it’s past two in the morning. Maybe they’ll have something you can wrap around your wrist to stabilize it, too.

Luckily you’d already put your shoes on beforehand, so you don’t have to worry about doing that with one hand. You consider locking your computer before you leave in case… in case what? In case Unknown comes by? Whether or not your computer is locked would be the least of your problems if that were the case. No, better to let it continue to try decrypting the log while you’re out. You’ll only be away for a few minutes. You shove your phone in your back pocket and carefully scan the hallway before leaving the apartment. Your injured wrist throbs slightly as you punch the button to summon the elevator. Honestly, it had to be today of all days that you fell off your stupid chair. If you weren’t so determined to finish decrypting the log this loop, it would almost be easier to force a reset than deal with it.

...One of these days your reliance on the resets to get you out of trouble will surely come back to bite you. If, indeed, you ever get out of this loop.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler-free, I believe! This was actually a very quick chapter to write, but I've been pretty busy lately so I haven't had time to post it. Frankly I should be asleep now, actually, but here I am ^^;;  
> Thank you to Masdevallia for beta-ing this, as always! I feel like my chapters keep getting longer, but that's probably a good thing... I think...

You’re still waiting for the elevator to arrive when your phone goes off in your back pocket. _Oh, shit._ Your fears are confirmed when you carefully pull it out with your good hand and see that it’s Seven who’s calling you. All you needed was a bit more time! But you suppose you should count yourself lucky that Seven is calling to warn you Unknown will be coming, rather than it being a surprise. _Dammit_. You were so close to finding out where Unknown was hiding. The conversations in the chatroom this morning had been a little different, too, so you’d thought perhaps… but you suppose you were just being optimistic.

The elevator door opens, but you hesitate, wondering if there’s a way you can still run your calculations while you’re away avoiding Unknown. Should you go back to the apartment? Is there anything to be done? While you’re considering your options, the elevator doors close and you realize your phone’s stopped ringing. Oops.

You glance back at the door to Rika’s apartment when your phone starts to ring again. This time, you pick it up. “Hel–”

“Alert, alert!! An error has been detected in your system! Please reboot!” Seven’s voice is loud in your ear, as always.

You should probably be feeling worried, but honestly you’re more disappointed that you couldn’t finish decrypting the log than you are afraid of Unknown coming to the apartment. “It’s okay, Seven,” you say. “I’m on my way out of the apartment soon.”

“Exactly!!!” he says. “It’s not good to be going out on your own at a time like this. There’s a hacker after us. What if some strange person was waiting outside to kidnap you? You should call me first!”

“I…” you shake your head to clear it. “...what?”

“You’re in the hallway right now, aren’t you? I see you on the CCTV feed.” He sounds rather anxious.

“Yeah,” you say, making eye contact with the security camera. Is he staring at you right now? What an odd thought. “You’re going to tell me the apartment’s not safe, right? Don’t worry, I won’t go back. Thanks for—”

“Wait, no! That’s not what I...gahhhhh.” Seven lets out a long breath. “I mean, you can’t go out now. I can’t protect you from here if you leave.”

You feel like you’re both talking about different things.  “Er… did you get a phone call about V just now, Seven?” you ask, still standing outside the elevator doors.

“I haven’t been able to talk to V since last night in the chatroom,” he laments. “He needs to know that the situation has changed. And I was thinking maybe it would be good to relocate you.”

So… he didn’t get a phone call about V? Then why on earth is he calling? “I… uh, yeah, relocating would be great.” You tap your finger against the back of your phone. “Sorry, Seven, I’m just really confused. I was about to go out and buy some stuff; did you call to tell me I _shouldn’t_ leave?”

“No! Wait, yes! You should stay in the apartment where I can monitor you,” he says. “I-I mean. It’s not like I’m watching you! Just the hallway! But I can’t protect you if you leave so…”

Your wrist throbs more and you look down at it. It looks kinda red and a little puffy. “I… think I understand. But I really have to go buy something right now. Is the special security system fine? Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“No… it should be okay for now. I’ve been strengthening all my systems so no one can hack them. I’m really sorry… you must have been so surprised to hear of the hacker…” He makes a noise that sounds halfway between a sigh and a whine.

You’re wasting time standing around in the hallway; if you’re going to go buy an ice pack, you might as well just do it. “That’s good to hear, then,” you say, awkwardly bending down with the same arm holding the phone to hit the button elevator button again with your elbow. You’re trying not to move your injured wrist too much.

“Is your hand okay?” Seven asks, and you look around, startled for a moment before your gaze lands on the security camera. You look at it and shake your head, then put on a smile and shrug your shoulders at him through the camera.

“I’m fine. I _will_ be fine. I have to go buy something, though.” The elevator doors open and you step inside, using your elbow again to select the ground floor.

“You’re leaving?” he asks, sounding almost… hurt?

“Well… yeah. I won't be long.”

“Hmmm. Hmm-hmm-hmm.” He makes several odd humming sounds. “A-ha!” he says at last. “I, Seven-Zero-Seven, defender of justice, cats, and cute girls who go for midnight snack runs, shall stay on the phone with you until you return to the apartment safely.”

Was that his way of telling you he thinks you’re pretty? Your cheeks feel a touch warmer as you step out of the elevator and push open the door leading outside. The night air is cool on your skin and the streets are void of people. “What exactly do you plan on doing in the event that I am kidnapped by some mysterious figure while I'm out?”

“I'd jump in one of my baby cars and come to your rescue!! ...Though Miss Vanderwood will get really mad if I leave without finishing my work, hehe~”

Vanderwood?

“Your maid?” you ask. Why would his maid care whether or not he finishes his work? Then again, this is Seven you’re talking about. A maid would have to be pretty eccentric to work for him.

“Yes… she’s always nagging at me to get things done but I have so much on my plate! It's so hard…” He sounds like a whimpering puppy.

“She’s not at your house at this hour, though, is she?” You arrive at the convenience store and bump the handicap button with your hip to open the door.

“Ehehe…” Seven laughs awkwardly. You hear what sounds like the crinkle of a bag of chips being opened on the other end of the phone. “So… what would be the purpose of this late-night outing?”

Smoooooth topic change, Seven. “A booty call,” you reply nonchalantly, hoping to perhaps catch him off guard.

It works. “A b-booty…? Oh. _Oh._ Wait. You…? Erm… that’s—ah… I mean, well…”

You chuckle as he stutters through his response, dragging the moment out just a little before you reveal your hand. “I'm just teasing, Seven. I needed to get something at the convenience store. Speaking of which, I need to use my hand for a second. Can you hold?”

“O-of course, I'll be waiting~”

You mute your phone and shove it back into your pocket before picking up some ice packs and a tensor bandage. You toss them in a basket and walk to the front to pay. There’s a drink machine at the counter with taps for various soft drinks, so you buy a cup there and just fill it with ice so you have something cold for your wrist when you get back to the apartment. Hopefully it won’t take too long for the ice packs to get cold enough to use. The middle-aged man tending the register doesn't seem overly concerned with your obvious difficulty managing everything as one-handed as possible and doesn't offer to help. At last you shake the handle of the plastic bag containing your purchases over your arm and up to your elbow, then pick up your phone again, wondering if Seven is still on the line.

“Seven?” you say as you back into the door to open it. You pin the phone between your ear and your neck and shake your bag a little farther up your arm. “I'm headed back now.”

There’s a crackling static on the other end, like the brush of fabric too close to the microphone. Hmm. Maybe he set his phone down? Or put it in his pocket? “Er… are you there?” you ask again tentatively.

“Shhh,” whispers the voice on the other end.

“What’s…? I mean, um, okay…” You remain silent as you walk down the street to Rika’s apartment complex. There’s more static on Seven’s end and what sounds like a door opening and closing. More silence, and then–

“Gaaahhhh I'm back, I'm back! Nothing strange happened? No weird people waiting to kidnap you??”

You smile a little. “Well, I did find a time machine into the future, so now I am all-seeing! Ask me anything!”

“Oho! Tell me, Miss Fortune-Teller, Miss Midnight-Snacker, Miss Party Planner! What shall become of poor 707 in the far future?”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm~” you hum, drawing out your reply. “Agent 707 will be wed on a space station to a large Buddha statue made of Honey Buddha Chips and Ph. D Pepper! All the guests will cry and you will be happy forever~”

Seven laughs, a genuine giggle that makes you smile. You enter the apartment building without incident and push the elevator button. It opens immediately and you step inside. There’s some static on Seven’s end again and he’s uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. You reach the fourteenth floor and step out into the hallway.

“I’m back,” you say, glancing at the security camera. “No scary kidnappers!”

A pause, then Seven says, “Very good! Excellent detective work, Miss Party Planner!” His words are as enthusiastic as always, but his tone is a bit hushed, the way you might speak if you were trying not to wake someone up.

“Yup! I’m going to head into the apartment now, so you can hang up. And um, not to pry or anything, but is everything all right on your end?”

Seven sighs. “There was someone around so I had to, um… relocate for a bit… but!!! Everything is A-OK! Agent 707 should probably get back to his work soon though or he might get lectured again…”

You look at the security camera and wave with the hand holding your phone, hoping he can see you. “I understand. Good luck! Call me if you find anything out.”

“Will do! 707, returning to darkness~”

The call ends and you put it back into your pocket, then set down the bag with your purchases so you can punch in the pass code and unlock the door. The apartment is just as you left it, with your computer still running its calculations and the lights left on. You glance cautiously inside, listening for some kind of sign that things are amiss. Nothing. All seems well, for now. Time to get back to decrypting that log before the night is out…

* * *

 _What is she doing?_ The tattooed boy studies her through the security cameras, watching as she waits by the elevator doors. The doors open, but she doesn’t go in for some reason. Instead, she pulls out her phone and glances back at the apartment door she just exited, then answers a call after the elevator doors have closed again. Who would be calling her? The RFA’s hacker? He has access to these security camera feeds too, doesn’t he… perhaps he’s wondering why she’s going out as well.

She glances at the camera a few times as she talks, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She seems to be holding her other arm a little awkwardly, which is only further confirmed when he watches her press the elevator button again with her elbow instead of just using her other hand. The video quality isn’t good enough to tell if there’s anything wrong with her hand, but if she’s holding it like that… hmm. He should file this information away for later.

She looks a little alarmed for a moment, then smiles at the camera. It’s not quite a _real_ smile, but it’s strange to see the expression on her face. She always looks very solemn whenever he sees her. Then she gets into the elevator and he can’t track her with the security cameras any longer.

It’s not always easy to tell, and he’s made mistakes before, but he’s sure that this girl is the one he needs to invite to paradise. He’s got the access key for the special security system thanks to the saviour, and temporarily disabling the system shouldn’t be an issue at this point. Should he go today…? It might be too early. He still has to instruct the other believers to fill his place, and he’d be going without the saviour’s permission, but the saviour doesn’t understand the situation like he does. Perhaps tomorrow, then. He’ll prepare everything he can before he goes to retrieve her. She’ll believe him when he explains the situation… won’t she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're approaching some exciting stuff in the next several chapters :D And you know, if you have any speculations about what's going to happen next, leave a comment! I'm so curious what you guys think, teehee~


End file.
